A longitudinal analysis of gross motor coordination in overweight and obese children versus normal-weight peers

Abstract

Our results provide conclusive evidence for an increasingly widening gap of OW/OB children's gross motor coordination relative to NW peers across developmental time in the absence of targeted initiatives. Special attention is thus needed for OW/OB children, especially for those not practicing sports in a club environment, in terms of motor skill improvement to promote regular participation in physical activity.

Interrelationships among motor coordination, body fat percentage, and physical activity in adolescent girls

“…These results are in line with previous findings [1][2][3][4][5]. Furthermore, the direction, magnitude, strength, and significance of correlations between body fat per- HUMAN MOVEMENT centage and motor coordination scores were not altered when controlled for physical activity levels in partial correlations analyses.…”

“…There is a growing scope of knowledge suggesting significant associations between motor coordination scores and some health-related attributes such as physical fitness, body fat, and physical activity levels in both young males and females. Recent evidences have suggested that motor coordination scores are negatively related to body mass index and body fat percentage [1][2][3][4][5] and positively related to physical activity levels [6][7][8][9][10] in school-aged children.…”

A longitudinal study of gross motor coordination and weight status in children

“…To our knowledge, only two of such studies using the same nonsport specific test battery were conducted in middle to late childhood (23,39). D'Hondt et al (23) found that children's actual BMI is a significant predictor of future KTK performance, explaining 37.6% of its variance (with N 5100, from 6-10 to 8-12 years of age). The evolution in gross motor coordination level also appeared to be strongly related to their invariant weight status (i.e., being normal-weight, overweight or obese at baseline and continued throughout that study).…”

“…However, to determine the causal and/or bidirectional nature of this adverse relationship longitudinal research is required (13,14,16,18,23). To our knowledge, only two of such studies using the same nonsport specific test battery were conducted in middle to late childhood (23,39). D'Hondt et al (23) found that children's actual BMI is a significant predictor of future KTK performance, explaining 37.6% of its variance (with N 5100, from 6-10 to 8-12 years of age).…”

“…Many authors have already stressed the crucial need for longitudinal research on the topic to understand the causal nature of this adverse relationship (13,14,16,18,23). Given that both childhood overweight and obesity as well as lower motor skill levels have been linked with less active lifestyles (24)(25)(26)(27), PA might act as an important mediator (8,28,29).…”