2016 Volume 62 Issue Suppl.1 Pages 109-114
Objective: An important strategy for achieving healthier body compositions is to encourage lifetime physical activity (PA) participation in overweight or obese adolescents. The purpose was to compare the association between PA and obesity among adolescents in China, and to identify the factors that influence the PA and obesity.
Methods: In 2013, a cross-sectional study was involved 962 Chinese children and adolescents aged 12-16 years (mean age 14.9±0.9). The adolescents were classified as normal weight (NW), overweight (OW), and obese (OB), according to the BMI cut-offs that was determined by an obesity working in China. The adolescents were recruited for anthropometric measurements and to complete a standardized PA questionnaire. Other confounding variables such as the parents’ demographic information, and lifestyle factors were also collected through the questionnaire.
Results: Nine hundred thirty-seven valid data were collected from the adolescents. The prevalence of obesity was 8.8% (boys: 9.9%, girls: 7.5%) for junior high-school students (JS) and 7.8% (boys: 12.7%, girls: 4.3%) for high-school students (HS). Regardless of the sex and weight status, the probabilities for achieving PA for HS were less than JS. Moreover, the OW and OB groups had significantly less PA, watched more television, or used the computer more often than the NW groups (p<0.05).
Conclusion: The adolescents consistently failed to meet the established PA recommendations and supported the age-related declines in PA. In this study, we highlighted the importance of promoting PA to adolescents, especially those who are OW and OB.