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Interventions and public health nutrition

Clustering of lifestyle behaviours and relation to body composition in European children. The IDEFICS study

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 69, pages 811–816 (2015)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background:

Dietary patterns, physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviours are some of the main behavioural determinants of obesity; their combined influence in children has been addressed in a limited number of studies.

Subjects/Methods:

Children (16 228) aged 2–9 years old from eight European countries participated in the baseline survey of the IDEFICS study. A subsample of 11 674 children (50.8% males) were included in the present study. Children’s food and beverage consumption (fruit and vegetables (F&V) and sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs)), PA and sedentary behaviours were assessed via parental questionnaires. Sex-specific cluster analysis was applied to identify behavioural clusters. Analysis of covariance and logistic regression were applied to examine the association between behavioural clusters and body composition indicators (BCIs).

Results:

Six behavioural clusters were identified (C1–C6) both in boys and girls. In both sexes, clusters characterised by high level of PA (C1 and C3) included a large proportion of older children, whereas clusters characterised by low SSB consumption (C5 and C6) included a large proportion of younger children. Significant associations between derived clusters and BCI were observed only in boys; those boys in the cluster with the highest time spent in sedentary activities and low PA had increased odds of having a body mass index z-score (odds ratio (OR)=1.33; 95% confidence interval (CI)=(1.01, 1.74)) and a waist circumference z-score (OR=1.41; 95%CI=(1.06, 1.86)) greater than one.

Conclusion:

Clusters characterised by high sedentary behaviour, low F&V and SSB consumption and low PA turned out to be the most obesogenic factors in this sample of European children.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all members of the study teams and especially the children and their parents for their participation in the study. This work was carried out as part of the IDEFICS Study and is published on behalf of its European Consortium (www.idefics.eu). We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the European Community within the Sixth RTD Framework Program, Contract No. 016181 (FOOD). In addition, AMS-P received financial support by Fundación Cuenca Villoro (Spain), and was partially supported by grants from the Spanish Carlos III Health Institute: RD12/0026/0009 (Red SAMID: Maternal, Child Health and Development Research Network). The information in this document reflects the authors’ view and is provided as it is. No guarantee or warranty is given that the information is fit for any particular purpose. The reader, therefore, uses the information at its sole risk and liability.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiatry and Nursing, GENUD (Growth, Exercise, Nutrition and Development) Research Group, School of Health Sciences, University of Zaragoza, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Zaragoza, Spain

    A M Santaliestra-Pasías, T Mouratidou & L A Moreno

  2. Red SAMID, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain

    A M Santaliestra-Pasías & L A Moreno

  3. Department of Intercultural Communication and Management, Copenhagen Business School, Frederiksberg, Denmark

    L Reisch

  4. Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology—BIPS, Bremen, Germany

    I Pigeot & W Ahrens

  5. Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany

    I Pigeot & W Ahrens

  6. Department of Paediatrics, The Queen Silvia Children's Hospital, University of Gothenburg, Smörslottsgatan, Gothenburg, Sweden

    S Mårild

  7. Department of Pediatrics, Medical Faculty, University of Pécs, József A. u. 7., Pécs, Hungary

    D Molnár

  8. Unit of Epidemiology and Population Genetics, Institute of Food Sciences, National Research Council, Avellino, Italy

    A Siani

  9. Department of Preventive and Predictive Medicine, Nutritional Epidemiology Unit, Fondazione IRCCS IstitutoNazionaledeiTumori, Milan, Italy

    S Sieri

  10. Research and Education Institute of Child Health, StrovolosNicosia, Cyprus

    M Tornatiris

  11. National Institute for Health Development, Center of Health and Behavioral Sciences, Tallinn, Estonia

    T Veidebaum

  12. Department of Movement and Sports Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    V Verbestel & I De Bourdeaudhuij

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  1. A M Santaliestra-Pasías
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  8. A Siani
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Correspondence to A M Santaliestra-Pasías.

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Santaliestra-Pasías, A., Mouratidou, T., Reisch, L. et al. Clustering of lifestyle behaviours and relation to body composition in European children. The IDEFICS study. Eur J Clin Nutr 69, 811–816 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2015.76

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