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Updated: Jul 8, 2026
Assessment of Child Anthropometry in a Large Epidemiologic Study
Published on: February 2, 2017
[Association between 24 h activity behaviors and body fat percentage among children with intellectual disabilities:
Yaqing Yuan1, Yang Liu2, Jingmin Liu3
1College of Sports and Health, Shandong Sports University, Jinan 250102, China.
Insights
Increasing moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) in children with intellectual disabilities (ID) significantly reduces body fat. Replacing sedentary behavior (SB) with MVPA yielded the greatest decrease in body fat percentage.
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Public Health
- Kinesiology
Objective:
To investigate the correlation between 24 h activity behaviors and body fat percentages in children with intellectual disabilities(ID), and the changes in body fat percentage of children with ID after isochronous substitution between behaviors in 24 h activity behaviors.
Methods:
From February to May 2024, the stratified random sampling strategy to recruit 207 children with ID aged 6-12 years old from six special education schools in Jinan City. The 24 h activity behaviors were assessed using triaxial accelerometers, and body fat percentages(BF%) were measured with a multi-frequency bioelectrical impedance analyzer. Compositional data were analyzed in R. Multiple linear regression examined associations between 24 h activity behaviors and BF%. Using 5-min increments, the isotemporal substitution was applied to explore dose-response effects of reallocating time between behaviors.
Results:
The time in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity(MVPA) was negatively correlated with BF%(β=-3.68, P<0.01), and the time of SB was positively correlated with body fat percentage(β=3.78, P<0.01); reallocating time to MVPA significantly reduced BF% when replacing sleep(SLP), SB, and light-intensity physical activity(LPA) by 1.39%, 1.99%, and 1.51%, respectively. The substitution effects between MVPA and SLP/SB/LPA were asymmetric. Replacing SB with LPA reduced BF% by 0.47%, and replacing SB with sleep reduced BF% by 0.59%; substitution effects among LPA, SLP, and SB were approximately symmetric.
Conclusion:
Among children with ID, 24 h activity behaviors are associated with BF%. Of all substitutions analyzed, replacing SB with MVPA produced the greatest reduction in BF%.
