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Patterns and correlates of objectively measured physical activity in 3-year-old children
Linnea Bergqvist-Norén1, Elin Johansson2, Lijuan Xiu3
1Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology, Karolinska Institutet, Blickagången 6A, S-141 57, Stockholm, Huddinge, Sweden. linnea.bergqvist@ki.se.
Insights
Three-year-old children
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Health
- Physical Activity Research
- Child Development
Background:
- Objective measurement of physical activity (PA) in children under 4 is crucial for understanding patterns.
- Existing knowledge gaps necessitate studies using objective PA measures in young children.
- Understanding PA correlates in early childhood is vital for public health initiatives.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate objectively measured PA differences in 3-year-olds by day of week and time of day.
- To examine correlations between PA and child weight status, sex, and parental factors.
- To provide insights into modifiable factors influencing early childhood physical activity.
Main Methods:
- Utilized tri-axial accelerometers (ActiGraph GT3X+) to objectively measure PA in 61 three-year-old children over one week.
- Collected demographic and family-related data at baseline and age 3.
- Employed statistical analyses including linear regression, ANOVA, and paired t-tests to analyze data.
Main Results:
- Children exhibited higher PA on weekdays compared to weekends (p < 0.01).
- Hourly PA patterns showed peak activity mid-morning and mid-afternoon (p = 0.0001).
- Children of parents with lower education levels were more active than those with higher education (p = 0.01).
- No significant differences in PA were found based on child weight status or sex, or parental weight status.
Conclusions:
- Three-year-olds' PA is lower on weekends and varies throughout the day.
- PA patterns were similar between sexes and independent of child or parental weight status.
- Children with less educated parents were more active, suggesting potential socioeconomic influences on PA.
- The observed weekday-weekend PA difference indicates potential for interventions to influence activity levels in preschoolers.
Background:
To increase the knowledge about physical activity (PA) patterns and correlates among children under the age of 4, there is a need for study's using objective measurements. The aim of this study was therefore to investigate if objectively measured PA among 3-year-old children differed between day of week and time of day and whether it correlated to child weight status and sex as well as parental weight status and education.
Methods:
Totally 61 children (51% girls) aged 3, participating in Early Stockholm Obesity Prevention Project were included. PA was measured with a tri-axial accelerometer (ActiGraph GT3X+) worn on the non-dominant wrist for one week. The main outcome was average PA expressed as counts per minute from the vector magnitude. PA and demographics/family-related factors were collected at baseline and at age 3. To analyze the results simple linear regression, ANOVA and paired t-tests were performed.
Results:
The mean number of valid days was 6.7 per child. The children were more active on weekdays than weekends (p < 0.01) and the hourly pattern differed over the day with children being most active midmorning and midafternoon (p = 0.0001). Children to parents with low education were more active (p = 0.01) than those with highly educated parents. No differences in PA by child weight status, sex nor parental weight status were found.
Conclusions:
PA in 3-year-old children was lower during weekends than weekdays and varied over the day. Boys and girls had similar PA patterns, these patterns were independent of child or parental weight status. Children to parents with low education were more active than their counterparts. The fact that PA differed between weekdays and weekends indicates that PA might be affectable in 3-year-old children.
