Abstract
Physical inactivity is recognized as a determinant of low physical fitness and body composition in preschool children, which in turn, are important markers of health through the lifespan. Objective methods to assess physical activity, physical fitness and body composition in preschool children are preferable; however, they have some practical limitations in the school context. Therefore, the aim of this study was to test whether a single question regarding physical activity level of preschool children, reported by their parents, could be used as an alternative screening tool of physical fitness and body composition. The information was obtained from 10 different cities throughout Spain, gathering a total of 3179 healthy preschool children (52.8% boys and 47.2% girls) aged 3–5 years. Physical activity levels of preschool children were reported by parents using a single question with five response options (very low, low, average, high, or very high). Physical fitness and body composition were assessed with the PREFIT fitness battery. The results showed that parents’ perception of their children’s physical activity was positively associated with all objectively measured physical fitness components (βrange = -0.094 to 0.113; all p < 0.020); and negatively with body composition indicators as measured (βrange = -0.113 to -0.058; all p < 0.001). The results showed significant differences in all physical fitness and body composition z-scores across the parent-reported physical activity levels (all p < 0.017 and all p < 0.001, respectively), as well as, for the fitness index (p < 0.001). Our study suggests that in school settings with insufficient resources to objectively assess fitness and body composition, parents-reported physical activity level by means of a single question might provide useful information about these important health markers in preschool children.
Highlights
Obesity is a worldwide concern that is growing among children and adolescents (Abarca-Gómez et al, 2017), and has even begun to occur in preschool children (Cadenas-Sánchez et al, 2019a)
The results show the association of parent-reported physical activity levels between physical fitness and body composition measures after adjusting for sex, age and maternal education in preschool children
Children whose parents reported to have higher physical activity levels had a higher level of physical fitness in all indicators (Table 2)
Summary
Obesity is a worldwide concern that is growing among children and adolescents (Abarca-Gómez et al, 2017), and has even begun to occur in preschool children (Cadenas-Sánchez et al, 2019a). At European level, a higher prevalence of overweight/obese preschool in the south of Europe was observed, compared to those children from the north (Cadenas-Sanchez et al, 2016b). Our group found that 35% of the preschoolers examined presented overweight/obesity were already 1.3% morbid obese (Cadenas-Sánchez et al, 2019a). A recent study with a population-based sample of 51,505 children found that the most rapid weight gain occurs between 2 and 6 years of age being those obese at that age obese adolescents (Geserick et al, 2018). Despite preschool years represents an opportunity for obesity surveillance it is still challenging in the WHO European Region (Jones et al, 2017)
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