Associations between accelerometer-measured physical activity and body fatness in school-aged children
Gába et al. Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine
Associations between accelerometer- measured physical activity and body fatness in school-aged children
Aleš Gába 0
Josef Mitáš 0
Lukáš Jakubec 0
0 Faculty of Physical Culture, Palacký University Olomouc , třída Míru 117, Olomouc 771 11 , Czech Republic
Background: The main aim of the study was to examine the cross-sectional associations between objectively measured physical activity (PA) and body fatness in 7-12-year-old children. Methods: We performed an analysis of 365 children (209 girls). Participant recruitment was performed in eight randomly selected elementary schools in cities and towns with various numbers of inhabitants. The body composition analysis was performed according to a multi-frequency bioelectrical impedance analysis; PA was monitored using an accelerometer. Results: In terms of the overall PA, boys were more active than girls. No significant associations (unadjusted and adjusted models) were found between light PA and all body fatness indicators in either sex. Moderate-to-vigorous PA was significantly negatively associated with all body fatness indicators only in girls. These associations strengthened after adjustment for age, height and sedentary time (β ranging from -0.49 to -0.36, P ≤ 0.01). In contrast, vigorous PA was strongly negatively associated with body fatness indicators only in boys. In the fully adjusted model the significant negative associations were found for fat mass percentage (β = -0.15, P = 0.048) and fat mass index (β = -0.15, P = 0.040). Conclusions: The present study suggests that increasing sex-specific PA of different intensities may be an appropriate approach for decreasing body fatness in children. Longitudinal studies are needed to verify these associations.
Body composition; Body fat distribution; Body mass index; Pediatric obesity; Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity
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Background
During the last three decades, the global prevalence of
obesity has doubled [1]. Although there is evidence for a
slower increase in the prevalence of overweight and
obesity in selected population groups in developed
countries [2, 3], the number of individuals with
overweight and obesity is rapidly increasing in middle- and
low-income countries, particularly in urban settings [4].
It is estimated that more than 90 million of children
aged 5–17 years will be obese by 2025 if effective policy
interventions do not change the current trends [5].
For a long time, the Czech Republic has been among
the European countries with a high prevalence of
overweight and obesity in all age categories, and it is
estimated that 18% of girls and 22.3% of boys younger
than 20 years are overweight and obese [6]. A
continuous increase in the prevalence of overweight and obesity
in Czech children and adolescents was observed between
1951 and 2001 [7, 8]; in the last decade, this trend was
confirmed by the results of the Health Behavior in
School-aged Children study [9].
Scientific evidence clearly demonstrates that
overweight and obesity in childhood and adolescence have
adverse consequences on premature mortality and
physical morbidity in adulthood [10]. For this reason, limiting
or even stopping the global increase in the prevalence of
© The Author(s). 2017 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
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childhood obesity is considered one of the main
challenges of today’s society. Physical activity (PA) appears
to be an important component for preventing obesity
[11, 12]. Many authorities agree that children and
adolescents should perform at least 60 min∙day−1 of
moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) [13–16].
Unfortunately 80% of youths do not meet this
recommendation worldwide [17] and the transition from
childhood to adolescence is accompanied by a significant
decrease in habitual PA [18, 19].
Regarding the fact that PA is one of the main
modifiable obesogenic behaviors, the associations between PA
and body fatness have been widely studied.
Unfortunately, comparing the results of different studies is
challenging, especially due to inconsistences in the methods
used for the assessment of body fatness and PA level.
Several studies used simple anthropometric proxies for
body fatness as outcomes (e.g. BMI, BMI z-score)
and/or self-reported methods for PA assessment rather
than more precise measures. The accuracy of self-reports
remains still questionable; therefore, precise instruments
must be (...truncated)