Abstract
Abstract Aim: To investigate the association between different contexts of physical activity (school commuting, participation in Physical Education classes, school recess, physical activity to improve muscular strength / endurance and overall physical activity) with abdominal obesity and excess weight in adolescents. Method: Cross-sectional study with 1,132 adolescents (14-19 years), enrolled in public schools in Sao Jose, Brazil. Information regarding the contexts of physical activity was obtained through questionnaires. The anthropometric indicators used to identify excess weight and abdominal obesity were body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC). Binary logistic regression was used to estimate the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI). Results: Adolescents who actively commuted to school for 10 minutes or longer were 36% less likely (OR: 0.64, 95% CI: 0.58 a 0.71) of having abdominal obesity investigated by WC and 25% less likely (OR: 0.75, 95% CI: 0.65 a 0.86) of having excess weight investigated by means of BMI. The other physical activity contexts were not associated with anthropometric indicators. Conclusion: Active commuting to school was associated with lower odds of having abdominal obesity and excess weight in adolescents. Thus, active commuting to school can be an alternative for maintaining adequate levels of body composition.
Highlights
Anthropometric indicators are used to investigate body composition and diagnose health risks, such as overweight and body fat accumulation[1]
Overweight was associated with pubertal adolescents and those who performed less than 300 minutes of physical activity per week were associated with excess body fat (p
The main findings of this study were that adolescents who actively commuted to school (≥10 minutes) had lower odds of developing abdominal obesity and were less likely of having excess weight when compared to adolescents who passively commuted to school
Summary
Anthropometric indicators are used to investigate body composition and diagnose health risks, such as overweight and body fat accumulation[1] This context, waist circumference (WC) and body mass index (BMI) are instruments that are easy to apply and have good accuracy[2], and are used to define body fat distribution in the abdominal region and excess weight, respectively[3]. The practice of physical activity can be carried out in several contexts such as school, physical education classes, during school recess or in activities whose objective is to improve muscular strength and endurance[4] Such contexts are directly associated with higher levels of regular physical activity, and this increase promotes physiological and biopsychosocial changes and health benefits[6,7]. It is important to know which of these contexts are most strongly associated with high body fat
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