title: "Obese equals lazy?" analysis of the association between weight status and physical activity in children.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Literature provides evidence that overweight children are more sedentary. To verify this generalized statement behavior patterns of overweight and nonoverweight children needs to be understood. Therefore, we investigated the distribution of sedentary and activity levels in a quantitative and qualitative way.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data was collected from 37 randomly selected nonoverweight and 55 overweight children. They were 8 to 11 years of age. Height and weight were measured and weight status was characterized by BMI (BMI-percentile, BMI-SDS). Daily PA (physical activity) was measured by direct accelerometry. Spare time and screen time entertainment were obtained by questionnaires.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The amount of time spent "passive" was significantly higher in overweight children, while nonoverweight children were more "active." The multiple regression model shows a significant association between weight status (BMI-SDS) and activity parameters. Additionally, screen time entertainment was significantly related to BMI-SDS.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results support the statement that overweight children are less active than nonoverweight children. The high amount of PA seems to be an important factor to prevent overweight in children given that PA shows the highest correlation to weight status. Quantitative and qualitative measurements are needed for further analysis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitative and Preventive Sports Medicine, University Medical Center, University of Freiburg, Hugstetter Straße 55, 79106 Freiburg, Germany. friederike.kreuser@uniklinik-freiburg.de
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kreuser
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kromeyer-Hauschild
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gollhofer
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Korsten-Reck
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Röttger
mesh_terms: D061725:Accelerometry; D001827:Body Height; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D002648:Child; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000503:physiopathology*; D050177:Overweight / Q000503:physiopathology; D057185:Sedentary Behavior; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires