Combined associations between moderate to vigorous physical activity and sedentary behaviour with cardiometabolic risk factors in children

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Combined associations between moderate to vigorous physical activity and sedentary behaviour with cardiometabolic risk factors in children

Published on Jan. 21, 2013

Abstract The objective of this study was to examine the combined associations between time spent in moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity (MVPA) and time spent sedentary in relation to cardiometabolic risk factors in a cohort of Canadian children. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 536 white children aged 8–10 years with at least 1 obese biological parent. Time spent in MVPA and sedentary behaviour over 7 days was measured using accelerometry and participants were stratified by tertiles. Daily screen time over 7 days was also self-reported by the child. Outcomes included waist circumference, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, fasting triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and glucose concentrations. Analyses of covariance comparing tertiles of sedentary time/MVPA showed that higher levels of MVPA were associated with lower waist circumference, fasting triglycerides and diastolic blood pressure, and higher high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, irrespective of sedentary time. In linear regression, MVPA was inversely associated with waist circumference and diastolic blood pressure and positively associated with HDL cholesterol, independent of covariates including sedentary time. In contrast, sedentary time was positively associated with diastolic blood pressure but after adjustment for MVPA the association was no longer statistically significant. Self-reported screen time was positively associated with waist circumference and negatively associated with HDL cholesterol independent of covariates including MVPA. Overall, a high level of MVPA was associated with reduced cardiometabolic risk in this sample of children, regardless of their amount of sedentary behaviour. The type of sedentary behaviour (i.e., screen time) might be more important than overall sedentary time in relation to cardiometabolic risk.

Author(s)

Jean-Philippe Chaput ^{1, 2}

Travis John Saunders ^{1, 2}

Marie-Ève Mathieu ³

Mélanie Henderson ⁴

Mark Stephen Tremblay ^{1, 2}

Jennifer O'Loughlin ⁵

Angelo Tremblay ⁶

Institution(s)

1

Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research Group, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, 401 Smyth Road, Ottawa, ON

2

School of Human Kinetics, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5, Canada.

3

Department of Kinesiology, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC H3T 1J4, Canada.

4

Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 0G4, Canada.

5

Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC H3T 1J4, Canada.

6

Department of Kinesiology, Faculty of Medicine, Laval University, Quebec City, QC G1V 0A6, Canada

Journal

Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism

Research Study Abstract