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A paper titled “Sedentary behavior patterns and adiposity in children: a study based on compositional data analysis” was published in the BMC Pediatrics on April 2, 2020; the full-text version of the article is available here.
Study summary
Background
Between-person differences in sedentary patterns should be considered to understand the role of sedentary behavior (SB) in the development of childhood obesity. This study took a novel approach based on compositional data analysis to examine associations between SB patterns and adiposity and investigate differences in adiposity associated with time reallocation between time spent in sedentary bouts of different duration and physical activity.
Methods
An analysis of cross-sectional data was performed in 425 children aged 7–12 years (58% girls). Waking behaviors were assessed using ActiGraph GT3X accelerometer for seven consecutive days. Multi-frequency bioimpedance measurement was used to determine adiposity. Compositional regression models with robust estimators were used to analyze associations between sedentary patterns and adiposity markers. To examine differences in adiposity associated with time reallocation, we used the compositional isotemporal substitution model.
Results
Significantly higher fat mass percentage (FM%; βilr1 = 0.18; 95% CI: 0.01, 0.34; p = 0.040) and visceral adipose tissue (VAT; βilr1 = 0.37; 95% CI: 0.03, 0.71; p = 0.034) were associated with time spent in middle sedentary bouts in duration of 10–29 min (relative to remaining behaviors). No significant associations were found for short (< 10 min) and long sedentary bouts (≥30 min). Substituting the time spent in total SB with moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) was associated with a decrease in VAT. Substituting 1 h/week of the time spent in middle sedentary bouts with MVPA was associated with 2.9% (95% CI: 1.2, 4.6), 3.4% (95% CI: 1.2, 5.5), and 6.1% (95% CI: 2.9, 9.2) lower FM%, fat mass index, and VAT, respectively. Moreover, substituting 2 h/week of time spent in middle sedentary bouts with short sedentary bouts was associated with 3.5% (95% CI: 0.02, 6.9) lower FM%.
Conclusions
Our findings suggest that adiposity status could be improved by increasing MVPA at the expense of time spent in middle sedentary bouts. Some benefits to adiposity may also be expected from replacing middle sedentary bouts with short sedentary bouts, that is, by taking standing or activity breaks more often. These findings may help design more effective interventions to prevent and control childhood obesity.
Authors and affiliations
Aleš Gába1, Željko Pedišić2, Nikola Štefelová3, Jan Dygrýn1, Karel Hron3, Dorothea Dumuid4 & Mark Tremblay5
- Faculty of Physical Culture, Palacký University Olomouc, Olomouc, Czech Republic
- Institute for Health and Sport, Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia
- Faculty of Science, Palacký University Olomouc, Olomouc, Czech Republic
- Alliance for Research in Exercise, Nutrition and Activity, School of Health Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia
- Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research Group, Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, Ottawa, Canada
Citation
Gába, A., Pedišić, Ž., Štefelová, N. et al. Sedentary behavior patterns and adiposity in children: a study based on compositional data analysis. BMC Pediatr 20, 147 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12887-020-02036-6
