Physical Activity and Sedentary Screen Time in Obese and Overweight Children Living in Different Environments.

Abstract

To assess the relationship of children's physical activity and sedentary screen time with overweight and obesity in children living in different environments (town and city) in Lithuania. An analysis of anthropometric data from 532 children living in town and city areas was performed. A youth physical activity questionnaire (YPAQ) was conducted to evaluate physical activity and sedentary screen time. The prevalence of overweight and obesity among the children was 25.5% in the town and 18.6% in the city. Children living in the town on average engaged 9.3 min/day less in moderate to vigorous physical activity (p=0.050) and had 33.2 MET-min/day lower energy expenditure than children living in the city. Sedentary screen time was extremely high on weekends in both town and city children. A higher prevalence of overweight and obesity and a lower amount of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity was found in children living in the town compared to children living in the city.