Association of BMI category with change in children’s physical activity between ages 6 and 11 years: a longitudinal study

Abstract

Background/objectives To examine the association of body mass index (BMI) with change in children's physical activity and sedentary time between ages 6 and 11. Participants A total of 2132 children participated from 57 schools in Southwest England, from the B-PROACT1V study. Methods Mean minutes of MVPA and sedentary time per day were derived from accelerometer-based measurements at ages 6, 9 and 11. Linear multilevel models examined the association of BMI categories with MVPA and sedentary time between 6 and 11, adjusting for seasonality, wear time, gender and household education. Differences in change over time were examined using interaction terms. Results Average weekday MVPA decreased between ages 6 and 11 by 2.2 min/day/year (95% CI: 1.9 to 2.5), with a steeper decline at weekends. Average sedentary time increased at a rate of 12.9 min/day/year (95% CI: 12.2 to 13.6). There were no differences in mean levels of MVPA by BMI categories at age 6, but differences emerged as children aged, with the gap between children who were healthy weight and overweight increasing by 1.7 min/day (95% CI: 0.8-2.6) every year, and between healthy and obese by 2.0 min/day (95% CI: 0.9-3.1) each year. Children who were overweight/obese engaged in less average weekday sedentary time at age 6 than those of healthy weight, but the gap closed by age 11. Conclusion MVPA declines and sedentary time increases on average for all children between ages 6 and 11. While there are no differences in activity levels by BMI category at age 6, differences in MVPA emerge over time for those who are overweight and obese. Developing interventions that support children to retain activity levels as they approach older childhood, particularly those who are overweight/obese could improve public health.

Objectively Measured Physical Activity Patterns in Children With Overweight and (Morbid) Obesity Across Different Weight Categories, Age Groups and Gender; Baseline Data of a Multidisciplinary Tailored Intervention Program

“…Age and gender are factors that need to be taken into account when investigating PA between weight categories since previous studies in the general population showed that boys are more physically active than girls and that PA declines in both genders with age 13,14 . Results of studies that included children having overweight and obesity showed similar results 15,16 . According to Jago et al (2019), levels of MVPA decreased with increasing age starting from the age of 6 years 15 .…”

“…Results of studies that included children having overweight and obesity showed similar results 15,16 . According to Jago et al (2019), levels of MVPA decreased with increasing age starting from the age of 6 years 15 . In addition, differences in MVPA between BMI categories increase over time, i.e.…”

A Multilevel Analysis of Neighbourhood, School, Friend and Individual-Level Variation in Primary School Children’s Physical Activity

“…These results therefore suggest that the factors studied in this study explain more about the physical activity of boys than girls. Studies consistently show that boys are more active than girls at all ages [6,36,38,57], but there is little…”

“…These results therefore suggest that the factors studied in this study explain more about the physical activity of boys than girls. Studies consistently show that boys are more active than girls at all ages [6,36,38,57], but there is little evidence that the effect of physical activity behaviour change interventions differs for boys and girls [52], with generally limited impacts for both genders. It may therefore be the case that a greater understanding of the factors that influence children's physical activity is required to promote effective behaviour change programs and, as such, the data from this paper highlight a particular need to look more closely at the individual level predictors of girls' physical activity.…”

“…B-PROACT1V is a longitudinal study that examined the physical activity and sedentary behaviours of primary school children, aged 5-11 years, and their parents. The study involved three waves of data in Year 1, Year 4 and Year 6 and are described in detail elsewhere [36][37][38]. Participants were recruited from 57 schools in the southwest of England.…”