1. Activity Profiles and the Associations With Weight Status in Population Studies of Young Children: Are There Gender Differences?
- Author
-
O'Neill, Aoife, Dowd, Kieran, O'Gorman, Clodagh, Hannigan, Ailish, Walsh, Cathal, and Purtill, Helen
- Subjects
BODY weight ,LONGITUDINAL method ,MOTOR ability ,OBESITY ,PARENTS ,BODY mass index ,ACCELEROMETRY ,SEDENTARY lifestyles ,PHYSICAL activity - Abstract
Purpose: Profiling activity behaviors in young children is important to understand changes in weight status over time. The purpose of this study is to identify activity profiles from self- and parental-reported Physical Activity (PA) and Sedentary Behavior (SB) variables by gender, and determine if the identified profiles are predictive of weight change from age 9-13 years. Methods: Cluster analysis was used to generate activity profiles for the National Longitudinal Study of 8570 9-year-old children (Growing Up in Ireland). Results: 5.4% of boys were found to be obese. Four cohesive activity profiles were identified for boys, with 7.3% of boys in the least active group identified as obese compared with 4.1% in the most active group. The odds of a normal weight 9-year-old boy in the least active profile becoming overweight or obese at age 13 were over twice those in most active profile (OR = 2.5, 95% CI: 1.9, 3.5). No coherent activity profiles were identified for girls. Conclusions: This study suggests that self- and parental-reported data can identify meaningful activity profiles for boys, which are predictive of weight changes over time. Future research should consider potential gender differences in self- and parental-reported PA and SB variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2017
- Full Text
- View/download PDF