Lean mass accretion in children born very low birth weight is significantly associated with estimated changes from sedentary time to light physical activity

Abstract

Summary Background Few studies have investigated how lifestyle is associated with body composition in children born very low birth weight (VLBW, <1500 g), a population at increased risk of obesity and metabolic syndrome in later life. Objectives Determine how time spent in physical activity, sedentary time, and sleep are associated with body composition in children born VLBW. Methods In this prospective cohort study of 5.5‐year‐old children born VLBW, height, weight, body composition (skinfolds, air displacement plethysmography), and 7 days of movement data (logbooks and accelerometers) were collected. Results Of 158 participants, 53% were male, and mean (SD) birth weight was 1013 (264) g. Only 52% achieved 60 minutes/day of moderate‐to‐vigorous physical activity, but 96% achieved sleep recommendations. Reallocating 30 minutes of sedentary time to light physical activity (LPA) was associated with 0.20 kg/m2 (95% CI, 0.02 to 0.37) greater fat‐free mass index. An equivalent inverse association was found when reallocating LPA to sedentary time. No associations were found for other movement behaviours. Conclusions Promoting LPA and reducing sedentary time may be an important strategy in reducing the elevated risk of obesity and metabolic syndrome amongst those born VLBW by supporting lean mass accretion. Funded by CIHR (FHG 129919) and SickKids Restracomp.

Associations between Diet Quality and Body Composition in Young Children Born with Very Low Body Weight

“…These equations included age, sex, weight, height, and physical activity. Physical activity was measured using 7-d accelerometry in this cohort of children, as previously reported (29). For participants without objectively measured physical activity, EERs were calculated for the 4 possible physical activity levels (sedentary, low active, active, and high active) (28).…”

The impact of an early intervention home-based program on body composition in preterm-born preschoolers with very low birth weight

“…The use of a multi-frequency BIA provides a more direct portrayal of water compartments, increasing results reliability ( 38 ). Skeletal muscle accounts for a large proportion of the FFM, and it is known that physical activity positively affects FFM accretion from birth onward ( 39 ). Loss of muscle mass is associated with poor prognosis, reduced quality of life, and increased mortality, thus highlighting the muscle as an important component of whole-body metabolism, glucose homeostasis, as well as overall health and wellbeing ( 40 ).…”

A systematic review of compositional analysis studies examining the associations between sleep, sedentary behaviour, and physical activity with health indicators in early childhood

“…After titles and abstracts were screened in level 1, 22 full-text articles were obtained for level 2 screening. Eight studies passed level 2 screening and were included in the systematic review [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28]. The top two reasons for excluding studies during level 2 screening were that studies did not examine the association between the movement composition with a health and/or developmental indicator (n = 4), and an average age > 5 years (n = 4).…”

“…Five studies did not report whether relative time spent in each movement behaviour was associated with health and developmental indicators [21-23, 25, 27], 1 study did not report findings for any time substitutions [28], and 2 studies reported the results for some time substitutions but not others [22,24]. Of the 7 studies that showed results for time substitutions, 3 used the method explained by Dumuid et al in 2019 [24,26,27,29], 2 used the method explained by Chastin et al in 2015 [10,21,22], and 2 used both of these methods [23,25].…”