engleski

Gender differencies in energy expenditure and physical activity among 11-year old children

AIMS: The growing epidemic of obesity is becoming more and more pronounced, even among children. Physical inactivity, along with inadequate nutrition, is one of the main reasons of the growing prevalence of obesity. Therefore, as a part of a bigger survey, the aim of this study was to objectively evaluate physical activity and energy expenditure in 11-year old children. METHODS: Ninety children (50 girls and 40 boys, mean age 11, 3 &plusmn ; 0, 2 years) from six different elementary schools in Zagreb (Croatia) were selected to participate in the study. Height and weight were measured and body mass index (BMI) was calculated. Physical activity and energy expenditure were assessed by a multisensor device (Sensewear Armband, BodyMedia, Pittsburgh, USA) that was worn for four consecutive days.1 Gender differences were tested using a t-test for independent samples. RESULTS: No significant differences between genders were observed for height (154, 1 &plusmn ; 7, 8 vs. 151, 7 &plusmn ; 8, 4 cm) weight (45, 4 &plusmn ; 10, 1 vs. 47, 2 &plusmn ; 13, 6 kg) or BMI (19 &plusmn ; 3, 2 vs. 20 &plusmn ; 4, 4 kg/m2), for girls and boys, respectively. On the other hand, we observed significant differences between groups regarding both total energy expenditure and active energy expenditure. Girls in this study had significantly lower total energy expenditure (2353 &plusmn ; 402 kcal/day) than boys (2588 &plusmn ; 592 kcal/day) (p=0, 03). Similarly, girls are presented with lower active energy expenditure values (1089 &plusmn ; 368 kcal/day) than boys (1268 &plusmn ; 484 kcal/day) (p=0, 04). On the contrary, no differences between groups were observed for physical activity duration (320 &plusmn ; 113 vs. 339 &plusmn ; 127 min for girls and boys, respectively, p=0, 44). CONCLUSIONS: Values of total energy expenditure in this study were higher in boys and similar to those predicted for this age and weight group2. Subjects in this study exhibited rather high levels of activity expressed both as caloric expenditure and physical activity duration. In addition, active energy expenditure was different between genders. Higher values were found in boys, what is in accordance with results of the majority of studies performed in children of similar age3, 4. In conclusion, it seems that the average levels of physical activity of 11-year old children in Croatia are above current reccomendations5, and that gender difference is present with boys having higher values of total and active energy expenditure. However, it should be noted that individual variations regarding active energy expenditure and physical activity duration were rather high. REFERENCES: 1.Mignault D, St.-Onge M, Karelis AD, Allison DB, Rabasa-Lhoret R. Evaluation of the Portable HealthWear Armband, a device to measure total daily energy expenditure in free-living type 2 diabetic individuals. Diabetes Care 2005 ; 28: 225-227 2.Torun B. Energy requirements of children and adolescents. Public Health Nutr 2005 ; 8(7A): 968– 993 3.Hoos MB, Gerver WJ, Kester AD, Westerterp KR. Physical activity levels in children and adolescents. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 2003 ; 27(5):605-9 4.Armstrong N, Welsman JR. The physical activity patterns of European youth with reference to methods of assessment. Sports Med 2006 ; 36(12): 1067-86 5.Epstein LH, Paluch RA, Kalakanis LE, Goldfield GS, Cerny FJ, Roemmich JN. How much activity do youth get? A quantitative review of heart-rate measured activity. Pediatrics. 2001 ; 108(3):E44

armband; inactivity

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