60 Min Daily Vs Average Of 60 Min/day, Are There Differences In Health Status?

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The physical activity (PA) guidelines for Americans 2nd Ed. recommend children and adolescents (6-17 years old) to engage in at least 60 min/day of moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA). However, it is common to report that participants meet guidelines when they average 60 min/day of MVPA instead of 60 min daily as recommended. PURPOSE: To determine if there were differences in health status (high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL), total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TRG), BMI, and diastolic and systolic blood pressure (DBP, SBP)) between children and adolescents that engage in MVPA for an average of 60 min/day (group 1) or 60 min daily (group 2). METHODS: Data from 724 (Group 1 =371, Group 2 = 353) children and adolescents (aged 6–17 yrs) that had 6+ valid days of accelerometer data from the 2003-2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) were included in this analysis. One-Way ANOVA was used to compare mean values between the 2 groups for all measures and ANCOVA was used to control for covariates. RESULTS: Mean MVPA (82±20 and 128±37 min/day), age (10±3 and 8±2 years) and BMI (19±4 and 17±3 Kg/m2) were significantly different between groups (p<.001). However, HDL (57±12 and 59±13 mg/dL, p=.10), TC (165±30 and 162±29 mg/dL, p=.23), TRG (77±38 and 78±47 mg/dL, p=.89), SBP (103±10 and 101±10 mmHg, p=.08), and DBP (53±14 and 53±14 mmHg, p=.70) were not different. When variables were adjusted for age and gender, no significant mean differences were found for BMI (p=.21), and other health measures. CONCLUSION: Although there were mean differences in MVPA between children and adolescents that engage in MVPA an average of 60 min/day or 60 min daily, there were no significant health differences. More studies are needed to confirm these initial findings leading to a possible change in the wording of the guidelines.