Physical activity, leisure habits and obesity in first-grade children.
BACKGROUND
Overweight and obesity are already on the rise in early childhood years. The relationships between genetic factors, malnutrition and physical inactivity are the underlying mechanisms. In this study, we examine the association between body indices, motor abilities and active (sport) and passive (television/computer) leisure time activities in a cohort of first-grade pupils.


METHODS
The study group consisted of 344 children (51.5% male, 48.5% female). They were 6.8+/-0.4 years old, height was 123.9+/-4.9 cm, weight 24.8+/-5.0 kg, body mass index (BMI) 16.1+/-2.3 kg/m. After determination of the anthropometric data, a fitness test was performed in order to determine motor abilities. Parents were questioned about their children's leisure time activities, using a standardized questionnaire. Differences between BMI groups were evaluated using multivariate ANCOVA, adjusted for gender and age.


RESULTS
Based on German BMI references, overweight and obesity were found in 12% of the children. They had poorer results with respect to endurance (P<0.001), leg strength (P=0.002), co-ordination and balance (P=0.045) and spent more leisure time in watching television and at the computer (each P<0.001). No differences were found between their active leisure habits such as club sports.


CONCLUSIONS
Our examinations with first-grade children show no differences in active leisure habits between obese children and their counterparts, although the former had poorer results in motor abilities, but they spend more time on sedentary leisure habits like audiovisual media. A possible explanation is their fewer regular daily activities.
Institute for Cardiology and Sports Medicine, Köln, Germany. C.Graf@dshs-koeln.de
Christine
C
Graf
Benjamin
B
Koch
Sigrid
S
Dordel
Sabine
S
Schindler-Marlow
Andrea
A
Icks
Arnold
A
Schüller
Birna
B
Bjarnason-Wehrens
Walter
W
Tokarski
Hans-Georg
HG
Predel
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D002669:Child Welfare; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007899:Leisure Activities; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity; D009765:Obesity / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires