Comparison of daily physical activity parameters using objective methods between overweight and normal-weight children

Purpose: The purpose of the present study was to determine if there were any differences in various aspects of physical activity such as energy expenditure, intensity, and type of activity between normal-weight and overweight boys.Methods: Children aged 9—12 years were recruited from 2 elementary schools located in different urban districts in Republic of Korea. The present study included 45 Korean boys, of which 19 were normal-weight and 26 were overweight. Daily physical activity was estimated over the same 1-week study period under free-living conditions using the doubly labeled water(DLW) method and a tri-axial accelerometer. Resting metabolic rate(RMR) was measured using the Douglas bag method and open-circuit indirect calorimetry. We calculated the physical activity level(PAL) as the total energy expenditure(TEE)/RMR.Results: PAL was not significantly different between the groups. In the accelerometer data, time spent in locomotive moderate-to-vigorous physical activity(MVPA) was significantly lower in overweight boys than in normal-weight subjects, whereas other variables including non-locomotive activity did not differ between groups. In addition, among all participants, time spent in total locomotive activity was significantly associated with PAL. Time spent in locomotive MVPA was significantly associated with PAL.Conclusion: Overweight boys may be less physically active based on locomotive MVPA, which was positively related with PAL. Our findings suggest that the contribution of locomotive MVPA to the increase in PAL was relatively significant.

Cross-Sectional Associations of Lifestyle Behaviors with Depressive Symptoms in Adolescents

This study aimed to examine the associations between lifestyle behaviors and depressive symptoms in adolescents.Self-reported data from the 2019 Youth Risk Behavior Survey(YRBS)was analyzed.Depressive symptoms were set as the outcome variable.Movement variables(physical activity,muscle-strengthening exercise,physical education attendance,sports team participation,television watching,video or computer games,and sleep),eating behaviors(fruit intake,vegetable intake,milk intake,and eating breakfast or not),and substance use(alcohol use and cigarette use)were included as explanatory variables.Binary logistic regression was used to explore the asso-ciations between lifestyle behaviors and depressive symptoms after adjusting for sex,age,grade,race,and weight status.Of 13,677 participants who completed the investigation,girls were more than boys(50.3%vs.48.6%).The proportion of participants in grades 9,10,11,and 12 was 26.6,27.2,24.3,and 20.8,respectively.Of them,the prevalence of depressive symptoms was 36.0%(weighted%:36.7%[35.1%,38.3%]).Among all the lifestyle behaviors included,participating in no sports teams(OR=1.53[1.32,1.77]),spending more than 2 h in video or computer games(OR=1.64[1.40,1.92]),sleeping less than 8 h nightly(OR=1.79[1.45,2.20]),not eating breakfast(OR=1.56[1.37,1.78]),alcohol use(OR=1.74[1.49,2.02]),and cigarette use(OR=1.83[1.42,2.37])were associated with higher odds of depressive symptoms.To reduce depressive symptoms in adolescents,interventions can consider encouraging adolescents to engage in team sports activity,limit time for video or com-puter games,sleep enough,regularly eat breakfast,and avoid using alcohol and cigarette.Future studies are encouraged to verify our researchfindings by using a more improved study design.