Association of cardiorespiratory fitness, physical activity level, and sedentary behavior with overweight in adolescents

Abstract

Physical activity and sedentary behavior promote opposite effects on overweight and obesity, in adolescents; however little is known of their combined impact on these outcomes. We aimed to investigate if there were any associations between overweight, and physical activity level, cardiorespiratory fitness, and sedentary behavior, both as isolated variables and in combination. Data of 1,015students from two public and four private schools from the metropolitan area of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil were analyzed. Overweight was classified according to body mass index, whereas physical activity level was assessed by the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), cardiorespiratory fitness by a 9-minute test (T9), and sedentary behavior by a self-completed questionnaire, considering the time spent watching television as the main indicator. Associations were examined by binary logistic regression analysis. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CIs) were used to measure the magnitude of the associations. IBM SPSS Statistics version 20 was used for all statistical analyses. Adolescents with poor cardiorespiratory fitness (OR=3.71; 95%CI=1.30-10.6) and a high degree of sedentary behavior (OR=1.73; 95%CI=1.24-2.42) had a bigger chance of being overweight. However the combination of these two categories in the same individual was not statistically associated with overweight. The study indicates that both sedentary behavior and poor performance on cardiorespiratory fitness test are significantly independent associated with overweight in adolescents.

Screen time increases overweight and obesity risk among adolescents: a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis

“…The age range of the participants in the included studies was 10–19 years old. The studies had been performed in the United States [ 29 , 41 , 43 , 74 ], Brazil [ 22 , 27 , 35 , 47 ], Egypt [ 44 , 52 ], China [ 26 , 39 ], Iran [ 45 ], Indonesia [ 34 ], Japan [ 32 ], Nigeria [ 51 ], Pakistan [ 42 ], Nepal [ 75 ], Bangladesh [ 31 ], Qatar [ 30 ], Australia [ 33 ], Mexico [ 28 ], India [ 46 ], Finland [ 48 ], Netherland [ 40 ], Turkey [ 49 ], England [ 50 ], and South Korea [ 53 ]. The screen time was assessed by validated questionnaires and overweight and obesity definitions were according to (a) as Z score for the BMI for age with the cut-off points of > 1 to ≤2 standard deviations for overweight and values > 2 standard deviations for obesity [ 58 ]; (b) as the international age and sex specific cut- offs of BMI [≥ 85th percentile and less than 95th percentile for overweight and ≥ 95th for obesity [ 46 ] and (c) as BMI cut-off of overweight 25 ≤ BMI ≤ 30 kg/m 2 and obesity BMI ≥ 30 kg/m 2 [ 59 ].…”

“… Nutrients/ 2020/ Lopez-Gonzalez D [ 28 ] Mexico School/309 girl; 340 boys Cross-sectional 12–17/ both Overweight/ obesity defined as ≤95th and ≥ 85th and ≥ 95th percentile of age respectively TV, electronic games Stratified by age and sex Non-significant association between obesity and screen time. Rev Bras Cineantropometri Desempenho Hum/ 2020/ Franceschin MJ [ 22 ] Brazil School/ 1015 Cross-sectional 15.3/ both Overweight/ obesity defined as 1 ≤ BMI Z-score < 2 TV, Video game or PC Sex, age, type of school attended and dietary energy intake A significant increased odds of overweight/ obesity in those with more than 2 hours per day TV watching (1.73 (1.24–2.42). The OR for PC and video games was 1.01 (0.71–1.45).…”

“…In our meta-analysis, the most important obesogenic screen was TV (OR = 1.813; 95%CI: 1.420–2.315, P < 0.001). In the study by Franceschin et al [ 22 ], adolescents watching TV for more than 2h per day had almost doubled chance of being obese compared to those watching TV for less than 2h per day (OR = 1.73; 95% CI = 1.24–2.42); but the association was not significant for playing video games or using the PC. Therefore, it seems that TV watching is a stronger motivator of obesity among adolescents.…”

“…Such behaviors are an important risk factor for cardio-metabolic disease in adulthood [ 18 – 21 ]. In adolescents, obesity is associated with dyslipidemia, glucose intolerance, and hypertension [ 22 ]. In several population-based studies [ 23 – 25 ], high screen time was positively associated with high blood pressure (BP), high low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, and triglyceride (TG) ( P < 0.05).…”

“…Numerous studies have reported the association between screen time and adiposity among adolescents; however, the results are inconsistent. Some studies reported increased odds of obesity by increasing screen time [ 22 , 26 , 27 ]. For example, Cheng [ 26 ] included 2201 Chinese adolescents and reported increased odds of obesity for those with more than 2h of screen time per day (1.53; 95%CI = 0.95–2.09; P < 0.001).…”