Differences in Aerobic Fitness and Lifestyle Characteristics in Preschoolers according to their Weight Status and Sports Club Participation

Abstract

Objective: This study assesses differences in adiposity, aerobic fitness, and lifestyle characteristics in preschoolers according to their weight status and sports club (SC) participation. Method: As part of the Ballabeina study, 600 randomly selected preschoolers (mean age 5.1 ± 0.6 years; 50.2% girls) were analyzed. Body composition was measured by bioelectrical impedance, aerobic fitness by the 20-meter shuttle run test, and physical activity by accelerometers. Eating habits, media use, and SC participation were assessed by questionnaires. Results: Overweight children (Swiss national percentiles) and children not participating in SC had both lower aerobic fitness and higher % body fat compared to their respective counterparts (all p ≤ 0.028). In addition, children not participating in SC were less physically active, had more media use, and ate less healthy compared to children participating in SC (all p ≤ 0.023). Controlling for parental sociocultural determinants attenuated differences in % body fat, in physical activity, and in eating habits. Conclusion: Aerobic fitness differs both according to weight status and SC participation in preschoolers. Furthermore, in view of the many differences in lifestyle behaviors, SC participation at this age could represent a more discriminatory indicator of healthy lifestyle characteristics than weight status.

Organized Sports, Overweight, and Physical Fitness in Primary School Children in Germany

“…Further, only participation in organized sports was considered rather than total physical activity, which may be problematic, especially in younger children. Ebenegger et al [60], however, did show a direct relationship between sports participation and habitual PA in preschoolers. The large sample size, on the other hand, is a strength of the present study, and an analysis of missing value did not show any systematic bias.…”

Correlates of habitual physical activity and organized sports in German primary school children

“…These findings are supported by previous studies. 24 On the other hand, using questionnaire and heart rate monitoring, Deflandre et al 25 observed 80 schoolchildren showing that the most sportinvolved children are not necessarily the most active ones. However, in their study, it has been suggested that children with excess body weight are more likely to hesitate to undertake sports activities which supports the findings of overweight and obese children being less likely to engage in organized sports.…”

Systematic Review and Proposal of a Field-Based Physical Fitness-Test Battery in Preschool Children: The PREFIT Battery

“…As an example, the reliability of the fitness tests used for the Ballabeina study conducted in Swiss preschool children is reported in several articles [15][16][17][18][19][20], but only one article representing this project is included in the present review [19]. Although inclusion of information on reliability, validity or the relationship with health outcomes of field-based physical fitness tests was a criterion for final inclusion of a study in the review, these terms were not entered in the electronic search and the authors conducted the selection manually.…”