Relationship between nutritional status, level of physical activity and psychomotor development in preschoolers

Abstract

Obesity and overweight have been included as a pandemic by the WHO; children are the group where intervention is recommended, given that they can enter physical activity (PA) and psychomotor development (PD) programs at education centres. Chile accounts for high rates of overweight, obesity and sedentary life, together with an absence of preschool PA programs. To relate the nutritional status, the psychomotor development and the quantity and intensity of PA in school routine for 5 year-old preschoolers. Pilot, non-experimental, transversal correlational study, including 23 preschoolers aged 5. We assessed three values: nutritional status with score z-IMC, PA with Actigraphy and PD with Da Fonseca Battery. 26% of the children presented with overweight and 52% with obesity. All of them had at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA) during their school-day. 82.6% of the children were in the Normal category for PD and the rest were in the Dispraxia category. A significant inverse relationship was found (p=0,032) between z-IMC and PD. The percentage of obese children is notably above international average values and national surveys. 17.4% of children show dispraxia at the psychomotor assessment. Children with higher z-IMC have a lower score in Da Fonseca battery, which could be due to a higher weight in relation to size, and generating a lower PD in the long term. No relationships were detected within the other variables.