Weekly Frequency Of Meeting The Physical Activity Guidelines And Cardiometabolic Risk In Youth: Nhanes 2003-2006

Abstract

The current physical activity (PA) guidelines for children and adolescents recommend accumulating 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA), 7 days per week. Although the time and intensity components of the PA guidelines have been rigorously studied, the days per week (frequency) component is less researched. PURPOSE: To examine the influence of frequency of meeting the MVPA guidelines on cardiometabolic risk in children and adolescents. METHODS: Accelerometer data from children and adolescents (age 6-18 years; n=673) with at least 4 valid days, 10 hours of wear time, and an average of ≥60 minutes per day of MVPA participating in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2003-2006 were used. The Evenson cut points for MVPA were applied. The proportion of valid days meeting the ≥60 minutes of MVPA guidelines (DMG) were calculated and used to assign subjects to quartiles. General linear modeling was used to compare associations of quartiles to individual cardiometabolic risk factors. Covariates included age, sedentary time, MVPA, sex, race/ethnicity, asthma, physical disability, assessment period, quartiles of the Healthy Eating Index, and poverty-income ratio. RESULTS: DMG by quartile are as follows: Quartile 1 (n=158; DMG=43.6%; 95% CI 41.8-45.5); Quartile 2 (n=171; DMG 62.3%; 95% CI 61.4-63.2); Quartile 3 (n=154; DMG=75.3%; 95% CI 74.6-76.0); Quartile 4 (n=194; DMG=91.6%; 95% CI 89.2-94.1). Diastolic blood pressure was higher in Quartile 1 and Quartile 2 compared to Quartile 3 (Q1=56.8mmHg, 95% CI 51.2-62.3; Q2=56.9mmHg; 95% CI 50.4-63.4, Q3=50.2mmHg; 95% CI 43.2-57.1; p<0.01 and p<0.05 respectfully). There were no other differences between quartiles for BMI percentile, waist circumference, waist-to-height ratio, systolic blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides, glucose, or insulin. CONCLUSION: This cross-sectional analysis found no association between proportion of DMG and cardiometabolic risk factors in children and adolescents. Achieving an overall weekly average of 60 minutes per day of MVPA appears to be sufficient for cardiometabolic health regardless of meeting the frequency component of the PA guidelines. Future studies are needed to understand optimal weekly patterns and volume of PA as well as their associations with health outcomes in youth.