Physical activity in overweight and nonoverweight preschool children

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To compare the physical activity levels of overweight and non overweight 3-to 5-y-old children while attending preschool. A secondary aim was to evaluate weight-related differences in hypothesized parental determinants of child physical activity behavior. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SUBJECTS: A total of 245, 3-to 5-y-olds (127 girls, 118 boys) and their parent(s) (242 mothers, 173 fathers) recruited from nine preschools. Overweight status determined using the age-and sex-specific 85th percentile for body mass index (BMI) from CDC Growth Charts. MEASUREMENTS: Physical activity during the preschool day was assessed on multiple days via two independent objective measuresFdirect observation using the observation system for recording activity in preschools (OSRAP) and real-time accelerometry using the MTI/CSA 7164 accelerometer. Parents completed a take-home survey assessing sociodemographic information, parental height and weight, modeling of physical activity, support for physical activity, active toys and sporting equipment at home, child's television watching, frequency of park visitation, and perceptions of child competence. RESULTS: Overweight boys were significantly less active than their nonoverweight peers during the preschool day. No significant differences were observed in girls. Despite a strong association between childhood overweight status and parental obesity, no significant differences were observed for the hypothesized parental influences on physical activity behavior. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that a significant proportion of overweight children may be at increased risk for further gains in adiposity because of low levels of physical activity during the preschool day.

Relative contribution of energy intake and energy expenditure to childhood obesity: a review of the literature and directions for future research

“…50 With the exception of the Pima Indian study, 50 all of the studies supporting energy intake included measures of both energy intake and energy expenditure. In contrast, studies supporting physical inactivity as the primary determinant of obesity found that children with a higher BMI were less physically active than children with a lower BMI 53,55,56,58 and that exercise was negatively associated with higher BMI. 59 Two of these studies found no relationship between total energy intake and BMI.…”

Early manifestation of cardiovascular disease risk factors in offspring of mothers with previous history of gestational diabetes mellitus

“…Another possible cause could be the influence of the lifestyle of GDM mothers versus IGT mothers on their offspring. Some studies [36,37] showed that parents' lifestyle did influence their children's lifestyle whereas other studies [38,39] showed no significant association between parent's and children's lifestyle in early age. However, these studies did not compare the difference of lifestyle between mothers with and without a history of GDM.…”

Physical activity and sedentary behavior: a review of longitudinal studies of weight and adiposity in youth

“…In our review of these studies, we found, like others, 48 that most cross-sectional studies reported that overweight children had lower PALs than their non-overweight peers. [49][50][51][52] Some of these studies include objective measures of physical activity, such as accelerometer data. [53][54][55] Null findings are not uncommon.…”