engleski

Energy expenditure and physical activity patterns in overweight and lean 11-year old children in Croatia

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 energy expenditure and physical activity patterns in overweight and lean 11-year old children in Croatia. 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. Sixteen girls and sixteen boys were considered overweight or obese according to International Obesity Task Force BMI cut off points for age and gender1. Energy expenditure and physical activity were assessed by a multisensor device (Sensewear Armband, BodyMedia, Pittsburgh, USA)2. The device was worn for four consecutive days. Group differences were tested using Student&#8217; s t-test for independent samples. Total daily energy expenditure (TEE) was higher in overweight children (2243 &plusmn ; ; 406 kcal/day) when compared with lean children (1756 &plusmn ; ; 338 kcal/day), p<0, 001. No significant differences between groups were observed in energy expenditure for physical activity &#8211; PAEE (637 &plusmn ; ; 341 and 622 &plusmn ; ; 323 kcal/day for overweight and lean children, respectively, p=0, 85). However, when energy expenditure is expressed relative to body weight overweight children presented with lower values of both TEE (39, 3 &plusmn ; ; 5, 9 and 44, 1 &plusmn ; ; 6, 6 kcal/kg//day for overweight and lean children, respectively, p<0, 001) and PAEE (11, 3 &plusmn ; ; 6, 2 and 15, 9 &plusmn ; ; 8, 8 kcal/kg/day for overweight and lean children, respectively, p=0, 009). Also, the group of overweight childen exhibited significantly lower values of daily physical activity (158 &plusmn ; ; 78 min/day) compared with the lean group (219 &plusmn ; ; 110 min/day, p=0, 007). Concerning the intensity of physical activity, moderate intensity activity (3-6 MET) was lower in overweight children (145 &plusmn ; ; 68 min/day) when compared with the lean ones (196 &plusmn ; ; 97 min/day, p=0, 009), while vigorous activity (6-9 MET) was not different between groups (11, 2 &plusmn ; ; 13, 1 and 17, 8 &plusmn ; ; 18, 7 min/day for overweight and lean children, respectively, p=0, 08). In conclusion, it seems that overweight 11-year old children in Croatia are less physically active than their non-overweight peers, but that energy expenditure expended for daily physical activity is the same in overweight and lean children.

sensewear armband; obesity

nije evidentirano