Compliance of Daily Physical Activity Recommendations and Abdominal Obesity in Preschool Children

Aim: Abdominal obesity, a status of excessive accumulation of both central subcutaneous and visceral fat, has emerged as an main predictor for metabolic complications and adverse health effects. Waist-height ratio (WHR) is simple, yet effective, surrogate measures of abdominal obesity and may be good predictor of cardiovascular disease risk in children. The aims of this study were to analyze the association between compliance of daily PA recommendations and Waist-height ratio (WHR) in a sample of preschool children.

Methods: This study comprised 704 preschool children, aged from 3 to 6 years old. WHR was calculated as the ratio of waist (cm) and height (cm) and cutoff of 0.5 was used to define abdominal obesity (WHR≥0.5 – higher risk). PA was measured during 7 consecutive days using the GT1M ActiGraph accelerometer and ≥ 800 cpm cutoff was used.

Results: Using the WHR, the prevalence abdominal obesity was 56,7% and 40,7% for girls and boys, respectively. Girls that not met the ≥3h TPA guideline were associated with higher WHR (OR: 1.7; IC: 1.0 – 2.8). No other statistically significant associations were found.

Conclusions: There is an association with low levels of TPA and abdominal obesity among pre-school girls. Further longitudinal studies are needed to confirm this data.