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Epidemiology and Population Health

Joint associations between weekday and weekend physical activity or sedentary time and childhood obesity

International Journal of Obesity volume 43, pages 691–700 (2019)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Objective:

To evaluate the single and joint associations of objectively measured moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and sedentary time on week and weekend days with obesity in children from 12 countries across all inhabited continents.

Methods:

A multinational, 12-country cross-sectional study of 5779 children aged 9–11 years was conducted. Time spent in MVPA and sedentary behaviors was assessed by waist-worn accelerometry. Logistic regression was used to examine the independent and joint associations of MVPA and sedentary time on weekdays and weekend with the odds of obesity.

Results:

After adjustment for all confounding factors, the odds ratios (ORs) of childhood obesity were the highest among children with a low level of MVPA on both weekdays and weekend (OR 4.67), high among children with a high level of MVPA on weekdays and a low level of MVPA on weekend (OR 1.99) and high among children with a low level of MVPA on weekdays and a high levels of MVPA on weekend (OR 2.20), compared to those with a high level of MVPA on both weekdays and weekend. Similarly, the ORs of childhood obesity were significantly higher among children with a high level of sedentary time on both weekdays and weekend (OR 1.87) compared with those with low levels of sedentary time on both weekdays and weekend.

Conclusions:

Lower levels of MVPA or higher levels of sedentary time on either weekdays or weekend were associated with increased odds of obesity in 9–11 year old children in 12 countries.

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Funding

The International Study of Childhood Obesity, Lifestyle and the Environment (ISCOLE) was funded by The Coca-Cola Company. Dr. Hu was partly supported by a grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (R01DK100790) and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (U54GM104940) of the National Institutes of Health. With the exception of requiring that the study be global in nature, the funder had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis and interpretation of the data; and preparation, review or approval of the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tianjin Women’s and Children’s Health Center, Tianjin, China

    Nan Li, Pei Zhao, Chengming Diao & Yijuan Qiao

  2. Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, LA, USA

    Peter T. Katzmarzyk & Gang Hu

  3. Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Jean-Philippe Chaput & Mark S. Tremblay

  4. Department of Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Mikael Fogelholm

  5. St. Johns Research Institute, Bangalore, India

    Rebecca Kuriyan & Anura Kurpad

  6. Division of Exercise Science and Sports Medicine, Department of Human Biology, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

    Estelle V. Lambert

  7. Alliance for Research In Exercise Nutrition and Activity (ARENA), School of Health Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia

    Carol Maher & Timothy Olds

  8. CIFI2D, Faculdade de Desporto, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Jose Maia

  9. Center of Studies from the Physical Fitness Research Laboratory, de São Caetano do Sul, Sao Paulo, Brazil

    Victor Matsudo

  10. Department of Recreation Management and Exercise Science, Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya

    Vincent Onywera

  11. School of Medicine Universidad de los Andes, Bogota, Colombia

    Olga L. Sarmiento

  12. Department for Health, University of Bath, Bath, UK

    Martyn Standage

  13. Department of Kinesiology, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, USA

    Catrine Tudor-Locke

Authors
  1. Nan Li
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  2. Pei Zhao
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  19. Catrine Tudor-Locke
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  20. Gang Hu
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Correspondence to Gang Hu.

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Li, N., Zhao, P., Diao, C. et al. Joint associations between weekday and weekend physical activity or sedentary time and childhood obesity. Int J Obes 43, 691–700 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41366-019-0329-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41366-019-0329-9

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