title: Effect of four additional physical education lessons on body composition in children aged 8-13 years--a prospective study during two school years.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Strategies for combating increasing childhood obesity is called for. School settings have been pointed out as potentially effective settings for prevention. The objective of this paper was to evaluate the effect of four additional Physical Education (PE) lessons/week in primary schools on body composition and weight status in children aged 8-13.
  
  
  METHODS
  Children attending 2nd to 4th grade (n = 632) in 10 public schools, 6 intervention and 4 control schools, participated in this longitudinal study during 2 school years.
  
  
  METHODS
  Primary: Body Mass Index (BMI) and Total Body Fat percentage (TBF%) derived from Dual Energy X ray Absorptiometry (DXA). Secondary: the moderating effect of overweight/obesity (OW/OB) and adiposity based on TBF% cut offs for gender.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Intervention effect on BMI and TBF% (BMI: β -0.14, 95% CI: -0.33; 0.04, TBF%: β -0.08, 95% CI:-0.65;0.49) was shown insignificant. However, we found significant beneficial intervention effect on prevalence of OW/OB based on BMI (OR 0.29, 95% CI: 0.11;0.72). The intervention effect on adiposity based on TBF% cut offs was borderline significant (OR 0.64, 95% CI:0. 39; 1.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Four additional PE lessons/week at school can significantly improve the prevalence of OW/OB in primary schoolchildren. Mean BMI and TBF% improved in intervention schools, but the difference with controls was not significant. The intervention had a larger effect in children who were OW/OB or adipose at baseline.
authors.affiliation: Centre of Research in Childhood Health, Institute of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark. hklakk@health.sdu.dk.
authors.forename: Heidi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Klakk
authors.forename: Mai
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chinapaw
authors.forename: Malene
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Heidemann
authors.forename: Lars Bo
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Andersen
authors.forename: Niels
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wedderkopp
mesh_terms: D050154:Adiposity; D000293:Adolescent; D001823:Body Composition; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D003479:Curriculum; D003718:Denmark / Q000453:epidemiology; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D010806:Physical Education and Training / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011627:Puberty; D012574:Schools / Q000458:organization & administration