BackgroundStudies that have examined the impact of a physical activity intervention on cardiometabolic risk factors have yielded conflicting results. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of a standardized physical activity program on adiposity and cardiometabolic risk factors in schoolchildren.MethodsCluster randomized trial study of 712 schoolchildren, 8–10 years, from 20 public schools in the Province of Cuenca, Spain. The intervention (MOVI-2) consisted of play-based and non-competitive activities. MOVI-2 was conducted during two 90-minute sessions on weekdays and one 150-minute session on Saturday mornings every week between September 2010 and May 2011. We measured changes in adiposity (overweight/obesity prevalence, body mass index [BMI], triceps skinfold thickness [TST], body fat %, fat-free mass, waist circumference) and other cardiometabolic risk factors (LDL-cholesterol, triglycerides/HDL-cholesterol ratio, insulin, C-reactive protein and blood pressure). The analyses used mixed regression models to adjust for baseline covariates under cluster randomization.ResultsAmong girls, we found a reduction of adiposity in intervention versus control schools, with a decrease in TST (−1.1 mm; 95% confidence interval [CI] -2.3 to −0.7), body fat % (−0.9%; 95% CI −1.3 to −0.4), waist circumference (−2.7 cm; 95% CI −4.5 to −0.9), and an increase in fat-free mass (0.3 kg; 95% CI 0.01 to 0.6). The intervention also led to lower serum LDL-cholesterol and insulin levels. Among boys, a reduction in waist circumference (−1.4 cm; 95% CI −2.6 to −0.1; P = 0.03), and an increase in fat-free mass (0.5 kg; 95% CI 0.2 to 0.9; P = 0.003) was associated with the intervention versus control schools. The prevalence of overweight/obesity or underweight, BMI, and other cardiometabolic risk factors was not modified by the intervention. No important adverse events were registered.ConclusionsAn extracurricular intervention of non-competitive physical activity during an academic year, targeting all schoolchildren regardless of body weight, is a safe and effective measure to reduce adiposity in both genders and to improve cardiometabolic risk profile in girls.Trial registrationClinical trials NCT01277224.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12966-014-0154-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

This study examined the differences in quality of life (QoL) between active and sedentary schoolchildren and analyzed these differences by gender and weight status. A total of 1409 children, aged 11-13 years, from 20 schools located in 20 municipalities of the province of Cuenca were invited to participate in a cross-sectional study; 1073 children agreed (76.15% response rate), of which 536 (49.9%) were boys. QoL was measured with Child Health and Illness Profile-Child Edition (CHIP-CE), an instrument measuring children's perception of their own health using a Likert-type scale with five dimensions: satisfaction, comfort, resilience, risk avoidance, and achievement. Multivariate analysis of variance using the scores of the different CHIP-CE dimensions as dependent variables, physical activity, gender, and body mass index (BMI) category as fixed factors, and age as co-variate showed the following: (1) the scores of active children were significantly better than the scores of sedentary children for every dimension except risk avoidance; (2) there were no significant differences in QoL by BMI category; and (3) girls had better mean scores than boys for resilience, risk avoidance, and achievement, and worse scores for comfort. These results suggest that active children have a better QoL and that gender differences favoring boys diminish or even reverse to favor active girls.

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The prevalence of insomnia in our population is slightly inferior to that of other studies and the consumption of sleep-enhancing medication although inappropriate is similar to that referred to in literature.