Is body fat mass associated with worse gross motor skills in preschoolers? An exploratory study

Abstract

We compared the motor competence between overweight/obese and eutrophic preschoolers with similar physical activity levels, age, socioeconomic status, maternal education, quality of the home environment and quality of the school environment. We also investigated to what extent excess body fat mass explains gross motor skills in preschoolers. A cross-sectional quantitative and exploratory study was conducted with 48 preschoolers assigned into eutrophic and overweight/obese groups. Overweight/obese preschoolers had worse Locomotor subtest standard scores than the eutrophic ones (p = 0.01), but similar Object Control subtest and Gross Motor Quotient scores (p > 0.05). Excess body fat mass explained 12% of the low Locomotor subtest standard scores in preschoolers (R2 = 0.12; p = 0.007). Excess body fat mass was associated with worse locomotor skills when the model was adjusted for physical activity levels, age, socioeconomic status, maternal education, quality of the home environment and quality of the school environment. Thus, excess body fat mass partly explains lower locomotor skills in preschoolers.

Biocultural correlates of gross motor coordination in prepubescent children: A cross‐sectional study

“…Nevertheless, in investigations that analyzed age groups similar to those of the present study, positive associations were found between children's performance and mother's education level, as well as a greater probability of children who studied in schools with lower socioeconomic levels to have lower MC in tasks involving balance, agility and coordination, when compared to children with higher socioeconomic status (Tsapakidou et al, 2014). In the present study, the mothers' education level and the type of school showed no association with GMC assessed by KTK, which was also recently observed in the literature (Nobre et al, 2022). In view of this, even explaining only 24.2% of the variance in KTK performance, the data from the present study confirm that excess body weight negatively influences the performance of prepubertal children in KTK, regardless of the mother's education level and type of the child's school.…”

“…In addition, studies that attempted to establish such relationships presented inconsistent data, but pointed to a positive association between socioeconomic status and locomotor and stability skills (Barnett et al, 2016). However, other studies have identified that socioeconomic status explains a minor part of the performance in motor coordination tests or is not significant, and that maternal education level does not seem to explain the motor performance of children in early childhood (Kakebeeke et al, 2021;Nobre et al, 2022). Nevertheless, in investigations that analyzed age groups similar to those of the present study, positive associations were found between children's performance and mother's education level, as well as a greater probability of children who studied in schools with lower socioeconomic levels to have lower MC in tasks involving balance, agility and coordination, when compared to children with higher socioeconomic status (Tsapakidou et al, 2014).…”

“…It is consensual that children with overweight or obesity are more likely to obtain the worst results in MC assesses whose tasks require body displacement, regardless of the nature of the battery used for their assessment, whether intended for the process or the product (Barnett et al, 2016; Barnett et al, 2022). However, there are fewer studies that correlate weight status with MC that consider, in their analysis, other intervening variables, whether biological, social, cultural, or environmental (Goodway et al, 2010; Kakebeeke et al, 2021; Nobre et al, 2022; Tsapakidou et al, 2014; Vandendriessche et al, 2011). In addition, studies that attempted to establish such relationships presented inconsistent data, but pointed to a positive association between socioeconomic status and locomotor and stability skills (Barnett et al, 2016).…”

Individual and environmental parameters in children with and without developmental coordination disorder: associations with physical activity and body mass index

“…Previous studies reported an association between locomotor proficiency and BMI in typically developing children ( 59 ); (Ramirez, Pérez-Cañaveras Herrero, 2021); ( 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 ). However, the extensive literature evidence indicates the BMI effect in LOCS ( 65 , 66 , 61 , 64 ) or a significant but non-directional relationship (i.e., correlation) ( 62 ); ( 67 ) ( 68 ); between these variables. Few studies have investigated the effect of locomotor skills on BMI ( 59 , 69 ).…”

Motor skills at 7 years of age and spinal pain at 11 years of age: a cohort study of 26,000 preadolescents

“…Furthermore, overweight or excess body fat has been found to increase the risk of both poor motor skills [ 38 ] and spinal pain, also in children [ 39 ], and therefore, height and weight at baseline were also included as potential confounders.…”