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Motor Competence and Body Mass Index in the Preschool Years: A Pooled Cross-Sectional Analysis of 5545 Children from

Clarice Martins1,2, Vicente Romo-Perez3, E Kipling Webster4

  • 1Research Centre in Physical Activity, Health and Leisure, and Laboratory for Integrative and Translational Research in Population Health, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal. claricemartinsufpb@gmail.com.

Sports Medicine (Auckland, N.Z.)
|September 25, 2023
PubMed

Insights

Developing motor skills in preschoolers is key to preventing obesity. Better motor competence, including locomotor and ball skills, is linked to lower body mass index (BMI) in children, especially those with higher BMIs.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Health
  • Child Development
  • Obesity Prevention

Background:

  • Childhood obesity is a significant public health concern, with one in five preschoolers being overweight or obese.
  • Higher weight status in early childhood is associated with increased risks of future health problems.
  • Motor skill competence may play a protective role by enabling participation in physical activity.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the association between motor skill competence and body mass index (BMI) in a large, multi-country sample of preschoolers.
  • To determine if this relationship is present across the entire BMI spectrum.
  • To identify potential early intervention points for obesity prevention.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized quantile regression analysis to examine the relationship between motor skill competence and BMI percentiles (15th, 50th, 85th, 97th).
  • Assessed motor skill competence using the Test of Gross Motor Development (TGMD-2/3).
  • Adjusted analyses for sex, age in months, and country.

Main Results:

  • Found significant negative associations between locomotor skills, ball skills, and overall motor skill competence with BMI percentiles.
  • These associations were stronger at the higher end of the BMI distribution (97th percentile).
  • For every raw score point increase in skills, BMI decreased by 8.9% (locomotor), 6.8% (ball), and 5.1% (overall) at the 97th BMI percentile.

Conclusions:

  • Motor skill competence should be recognized as a critical factor in early childhood obesity prevention strategies.
  • Public health policies should prioritize the development of motor skills in preschoolers.
  • Further longitudinal and experimental research is needed to confirm causality.
Abstract

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