Abstract Objectives The purpose of this report is to perform a systematic review of the evidence on the associations between physical activity and cognition by differentiating between academic and ...cognitive performance measures. Second-generation questions regarding potential mediators or moderators (i.e., sex, age and psychological variables) of this relationship were also examined. Design Systematic review. Methods Studies were identified from searches in PubMed, Sportdiscus and ERIC databases from 2000 through 2013. The search process was carried out by two independent researchers. Results A total of 20 articles met the inclusion criteria, 2 of them analyzed both cognitive and academic performance in relation to physical activity. Four articles (18%) found no association between physical activity and academic performance, 11 (50%) found positive association and one showed negative association (5%). Five articles (23%) found positive association between physical activity and cognitive performance and one showed negative association (5%). The findings of these studies show that cognitive performance is associated with vigorous physical activity and that academic performance is related to general physical activity, but mainly in girls. Results of the review also indicate that type of activity and some psychological factors (i.e., self-esteem, depression) could mediate the association between physical activity and academic performance. Conclusions Results of the review support that physical activity is associated with cognition, but more research is needed to clarify the role of sex, intensity and type of physical activity and some psychological variables of this association.
Objective To examine the independent and combined associations of the components of physical fitness with academic performance among youths. Study design This cross-sectional study included a total ...of 2038 youths (989 girls) aged 6-18 years. Cardiorespiratory capacity was measured using the 20-m shuttle run test. Motor ability was assessed with the 4 × 10-m shuttle run test of speed of movement, agility, and coordination. A muscular strength z -score was computed based on handgrip strength and standing long jump distance. Academic performance was assessed through school records using 4 indicators: Mathematics, Language, an average of Mathematics and Language, and grade point average score. Results Cardiorespiratory capacity and motor ability were independently associated with all academic variables in youth, even after adjustment for fitness and fatness indicators (all P ≤ .001), whereas muscular strength was not associated with academic performance independent of the other 2 physical fitness components. In addition, the combined adverse effects of low cardiorespiratory capacity and motor ability on academic performance were observed across the risk groups ( P for trend <.001). Conclusion Cardiorespiratory capacity and motor ability, both independently and combined, may have a beneficial influence on academic performance in youth.
Based on a three-factor model of subjective wellbeing (evaluative, hedonic and eudemonic), the purpose of this study was to analyze gender differences in children and adolescents through three ...different subjective wellbeing indicators.
The sample comprised 1.407 children and adolescents from Cadiz and Madrid (Spain), in the framework of the UP&DOWN study. Life satisfaction was measured with the subjective happiness scale, positive and negative affect were measured with the positive and negative affect schedule, and purpose in life was assessed with the children's hope scale.
Linear regression models indicate the existence of significant gender differences only in adolescents, with higher scores among girls in positive affect (
= 0.016) and negative affect (
< 0.001) but with lower scores in purpose in life (
= 0.024).
These results highlight the role of gender as an important factor in explaining differences in subjective wellbeing. Additionally, results indicate that gender differences in subjective wellbeing are observed in adolescents, but not in children, suggesting that the gender gap in subjective wellbeing begins at the age of 12. Mental health practitioners should pay attention to these findings in order to implement screening methods and interventions focused on these needs.
We examined the dose-response relationship between physical activity (PA) and incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in adults in Taiwan.
This study included 1 98 919 participants, ...aged 18-97 years, free of CVD, cancer and diabetes at baseline (1997-2013), who were followed until 2016. At baseline, participants were classified into five PA levels: inactive' (0 metabolic equivalent of task (MET)-h/week), 'lower insufficiently active' (0.1-3.75 MET-h/week), 'upper insufficiently active' (3.75-7.49 MET-h/week), 'active' (7.5-14.99 MET-h/week) and 'highly active' (≥15 MET-h/week. CVD risk factors were assessed at baseline and at follow-up by physical examination and laboratory tests. Analyses were performed with Cox regression and adjusted for the main confounders.
During a mean follow-up of 6.0±4.5 years (range 0.5-19 years), 20 447 individuals developed obesity, 19 619 hypertension, 21 592 hypercholesterolaemia, 14 164 atherogenic dyslipidaemia, 24 275 metabolic syndrome and 8548 type 2 diabetes. Compared with inactive participants, those in the upper insufficiently active (but not active) category had a lower risk of obesity (HR 0.92; 95% CI 0.88 to 0.95), atherogenic dyslipidaemia (0.96; 0.90 to 0.99), metabolic syndrome (0.95; 0.92 to 0.99) and type 2 diabetes (0.91; 0.86 to 0.97). Only highly active individuals showed a lower incidence of CVD risk factors than their upper insufficiently active counterparts.
Compared with being inactive, doing half the recommended amount of PA is associated with a lower incidence of several common biological CVD risk factors. Given these benefits, half the recommended amount of PA is an evidence based target for inactive adults.
We aimed to analyze the cross-sectional and longitudinal association of physical activity (PA) levels and PA patterns with metabolic syndrome score (MetS) in children and adolescents.
A total of 175 ...children (82 females) and 188 adolescents (95 females) were included. Objective PA levels and patterns were determined by accelerometry. MetS was computed from waist circumference, systolic blood pressure, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and glucose levels. Different linear regression models were implemented to examine the associations of PA with MetS.
Vigorous PA, moderate-vigorous PA, number of bouts per day in 10 min (N10), and total time in bouts per day in 10 min (T10) were negatively associated with MetS in male children and adolescents at cross-sectional level (β ranging from -0.005 to -0.164, all p < 0.05). Total time in bouts per day in 20 min in male children, and vigorous PA and N10 in female children were longitudinally and negatively associated with MetS (β ranging from -0.011 to -0.247, all p < 0.05).
Associations of PA and MetS were observed at cross-sectional level in males and longitudinally in female children. The associations in PA patterns were found when patterns were grouped into bouts of 10 min. Therefore, for future studies of PA with health markers in the pediatric population, it would be advisable to choose bouts of shorter duration.
(1) Background: Numerous studies have focused on examining the association between PA levels and health-related physical fitness components in children or adolescents without disabilities. However, ...research on the association between PA and health-related physical fitness in adolescents with DS (Down syndrome) is limited, and most of the previous studies have been developed with a cross-sectional perspective. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to assess the prospective association of accelerometer-based PA at baseline with health-related physical fitness at a 2-year follow-up in a relatively large sample of adolescents with DS from the UP&DOWN study. (2) Methods: A total of 92 adolescents with DS (58 males) between 11 and 20 years old with full data were eligible from an initial sample of 110 participants. Fitness was assessed by the ALPHA health-related fitness test battery for youth, and physical activity was assessed by Actigraph accelerometers. (3) Results: The high tertile of total PA was related to decreased motor (Beta 95% CI = −1.46 −2.88; −0.05) and cardiorespiratory fitness (Beta 95% CI = −2.22 −4.42; 0.02) in adolescents with DS. (4) Conclusions: In adolescents with DS, (i) PA level was not prospectively associated with muscular fitness and (ii) high levels of total PA at the baseline were inversely associated with motor and cardiorespiratory fitness at the 2-year follow-up. For comparative purposes, these relationships were also examined in a subsample of adolescents without DS.
To identify lifestyle clusters in children and adolescents, to analyze associations between lifestyle clusters and body fat percentage (BFP) at baseline and 2 years later, and to examine if BFP at ...baseline is associated with BFP 2 years later.
This longitudinal study involved 1634 Spanish youth (804 girls) aged 8-18 years (mean, 12.45 ± 2.51 years). Cluster analysis was performed by including objectively measured sedentary time and physical activity and self-reported screen time and diet. The associations between cluster membership and BFP was analyzed through general linear models. All the analyses were separated by 3 age groups: older children, younger adolescents, and older adolescents.
Four clusters were identified in the 3 age groups: (1) healthy lifestyle cluster (high moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, low screen and total sedentary time), (2) predominantly sedentary cluster, (3) mainly screen time consumers cluster, and (4) nonhealthy lifestyle cluster (predominantly low moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and unhealthy diet). Participants belonging to the healthy lifestyle cluster showed significantly lower BFP at baseline and 2 years later compared with the other profiles. These differences remained significant when adjusted by BFP at baseline within the younger adolescents. Moreover, BFP at baseline positively predicted BFP 2 years later in all groups.
These findings identify distinct lifestyle patterns. These clusters could be useful to develop interventions to reduce overweight and obesity in children and adolescents.
To examine clustering of lifestyle behaviors in Spanish children and adolescents based on screen time, nonscreen sedentary time, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, Mediterranean diet quality, ...and sleep time, and to analyze its association with health-related physical fitness.
The sample consisted of 1197 children and adolescents (597 boys), aged 8-18 years, included in the baseline cohort of the UP&DOWN study. Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity was assessed by accelerometry. Screen time, nonscreen sedentary time, Mediterranean diet quality, and sleep time were self-reported by participants. Health-related physical fitness was measured following the Assessing Levels of Physical Activity battery for youth. A 2-stage cluster analysis was performed based on the 5 lifestyle behaviors. Associations of clusters with fatness and physical fitness were analyzed by 1-way ANCOVA.
Five lifestyle clusters were identified: (1) active (n = 171), (2) sedentary nonscreen sedentary time-high diet quality (n = 250), (3) inactive-high sleep time (n = 249 20.8%), (4) sedentary nonscreen sedentary time-low diet quality (n = 273), and (5) sedentary screen time-low sleep time (n = 254). Cluster 1 was the healthiest profile in relation to health-related physical fitness in both boys and girls. In boys, cluster 3 had the worst fatness and fitness levels, whereas in girls the worst scores were found in clusters 4 and 5.
Clustering of different lifestyle behaviors was identified and differences in health-related physical fitness were found among clusters, which suggests that special attention should be given to sedentary behaviors in girls and physical activity in boys when developing childhood health prevention strategies focusing on lifestyles patterns.
An objective diagnosis of sedentary behaviour as well as of the physical activity and fitness levels in youth and to better understand how lifestyle is associated with cardiovascular disease risk ...factors and other phenotypes is of clinical and public health interest, and might be informative for developing intervention studies focused on the promotion of physical activity in these population. The aim of this methodological paper is to describe the design and assessment in the UP&DOWN study.
The UP&DOWN study is a multi-center follow-up design where 2225 Spanish primary and secondary schoolchildren from Cadiz and Madrid, respectively, as well as 110 Spanish adolescents with Down syndrome from Madrid and Toledo were recruited to be assessed. Nine main measurement categories are assessed: i) socio-demographic and early determinants; ii) environmental determinants; iii) physical activity and sedentary behaviour; iv) health-related fitness; v) blood pressure and resting heart rate; vi) mental health; vii) dietary patterns; viii) blood samples; and ix) genetic analysis. During the 3-yr follow-up study, socio-demographic and early determinants, and genetic analysis are only assessed in the first year. Blood sampling is assessed in the first year and the third year (2nd follow-up), and all the other measurements are assessed every year.
The findings of the UP&DOWN study may help the Health Information Systems and policy makers to identify the target population for primary prevention and health promotion policies, and to develop and test preventive strategies. Moreover, these data will allow following the trends at population level, as well as to modify/adapt/create new evidence-based physical activity guidelines at national level. The findings will also serve as a scientific platform for interventional studies.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Purpose
To examine the association between adherence to the Mediterranean diet and academic performance in children and adolescents.
Methods
This is a cross-sectional study conducted with 1371 youth ...aged 12.04 ± 2.50 years (685 girls) in Spain during 2011–2012. Adherence to the Mediterranean diet was assessed using the KIDMED index (Mediterranean Diet Quality Index in children and adolescents), which includes 16 questions on specific dietary patterns. Levels of adherence were classified into three groups: poor adherence (0–3), average adherence (4–7), and good adherence (8–12). Academic performance was assessed through school records using four indicators: math, language, an average of math and language, and grade point average score.
Results
Adherence to the Mediterranean diet was related to academic performance (
β
ranging from 0.107 to 0.148; all
P
< 0.001) after adjusting for confounders. The group of good adherence to the Mediterranean diet had significantly higher scores in all of the academic indicators compared with the poor group (ranging from +0.429 to 0.464; all
P
≤ 0.001); as well as the group of average adherence to the Mediterranean diet had significantly higher scores in all of the academic indicators compared with the poor group (ranging from +0.292 to 0.344; all
P
≤ 0.06). There were no differences between the groups of good and average adherence to the Mediterranean diet.
Conclusions
Adherence to the Mediterranean diet may have a beneficial influence on academic performance in youth. Importantly, the benefits of adherence to the Mediterranean diet on academic performance may be stronger as youth adhered to the optimal Mediterranean diet levels.
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