Table 3.

Prevalence (%) of children’s health-risk behaviours in the total study group^‡ by country: nationally representative samples of 6–9-year-olds, WHO European Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative, school year 2007/2008

Health-risk behaviour		Bulgaria	Czech Republic	Lithuania	Portugal	Sweden
Breakfast and food consumption frequency
1.	Having breakfast <7 d/week§	21·1b	24·3b	32·5a	4·4c	5·7c
2.	Eating fruit|| <7 d/week§	64·3a	46·8b	62·8a	35·0c	31·2d
3.	Eating vegetables (excluding potatoes) <7 d/week§	76·4a	71·7b	76·8a	60·6c	46·6d
4.	Drinking soft drinks containing sugar >3 d/week§	38·6b	46·5a	19·5c	20·2c	8·5d
5.	Eating foods like potato chips (crisps), corn chips, popcorn or peanuts >3 d/week§	46·5a	4·3c	9·7b	5·5c	1·1d
6.	Eating foods like candy bars or chocolate >3 d/week§	63·4a	24·4c	44·0b	11·7d	2·2e
7.	Eating foods like biscuits, cakes, doughnuts or pies >3 d/week§	46·4a	24·2c	33·3b	25·8c	6·4d
8.	Eating foods like pizza, French fries (chips), hamburgers, sausages or meat pies >3 d/week§	39·4a	2·2c	7·3b	6·6b	2·0c
Physical activity
9.	Using inactive transportation going to and from school§	29·3d	38·8c	39·2c	66·9a	47·8b
10.	Going to a sports or dancing club <2 d/week§	79·0a	64·3c	69·4b	70·5b	48·8d
11.	Playing outside <1 h/d§	4·8c	5·2c	7·5b	35·0a	7·7b
Screen time and sleep duration
12.	Spending screen time ≥2 h/d§	70·3b	32·6d	74·2a	34·7d	39·5c
13.	Sleep duration <9 h/d§	19·1a	5·6c	11·9b	13·1b	3·5d

^a,b,c,d,eWithin each health-risk behaviour item, proportions with unlike superscript letters were significantly different (Marascuilo procedure). Superscripts are ranked by decreasing prevalence, whereby the highest prevalence was indicated with superscript a.

^‡Children with complete information on sex, whose age was between 6 and 9 years old, whose weight and height were measured, whose BMI-for-age Z-score was within the normal range (≥–5 and ≤+5) and who returned a filled out family record form.

^§Statistically significant difference in proportions across the countries (χ ² test; P<0·001).

^||Combination of ‘fresh fruit’ and ‘100 % fruit juice’.