Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2012 Mar 15:12:28.
doi: 10.1186/1471-2431-12-28.

Obesity and motor skills among 4 to 6-year-old children in the United States: nationally-representative surveys

Katia Castetbon  1 , Tatiana Andreyeva
Affiliations

Obesity and motor skills among 4 to 6-year-old children in the United States: nationally-representative surveys

Katia Castetbon et al. BMC Pediatr. .

Abstract

Background: Few population-based studies have assessed relationships between body weight and motor skills in young children. Our objective was to estimate the association between obesity and motor skills at 4 years and 5-6 years of age in the United States. We used repeated cross-sectional assessments of the national sample from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey-Birth Cohort (ECLS-B) of preschool 4-year-old children (2005-2006; n = 5 100) and 5-6-year-old kindergarteners (2006-2007; n = 4 700). Height, weight, and fine and gross motor skills were assessed objectively via direct standardized procedures. We used categorical and continuous measures of body weight status, including obesity (Body Mass Index (BMI) ≥ 95th percentile) and BMI z-scores. Multivariate logistic and linear models estimated the association between obesity and gross and fine motor skills in very young children adjusting for individual, social, and economic characteristics and parental involvement.

Results: The prevalence of obesity was about 15%. The relationship between motor skills and obesity varied across types of skills. For hopping, obese boys and girls had significantly lower scores, 20% lower in obese preschoolers and 10% lower in obese kindergarteners than normal weight counterparts, p < 0.01. Obese girls could jump 1.6-1.7 inches shorter than normal weight peers (p < 0.01). Other gross motor skills and fine motor skills of young children were not consistently related to BMI z-scores and obesity.

Conclusions: Based on objective assessment of children's motor skills and body weight and a full adjustment for confounding covariates, we find no reduction in overall coordination and fine motor skills in obese young children. Motor skills are adversely associated with childhood obesity only for skills most directly related to body weight.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Inclusion flow chart in analyses. In accordance with the NCES reporting guidelines, all unweighted sample sizes are rounded to the nearest 50.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Ogden CL, Carroll MD, Curtin LR, Lamb MM, Flegal KM. Prevalence of high body mass index in US children and adolescents, 2007-2008. JAMA. 2010;303:242–249. doi: 10.1001/jama.2009.2012. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Lissner L, Sohlstrom A, Sundblom E, Sjoberg A. Trends in overweight and obesity in Swedish schoolchildren 1999-2005: has the epidemic reached a plateau? Obes Rev. 2010;11:553–559. - PubMed
    1. Olds TS, Tomkinson GR, Ferrar KE, Maher CA. Trends in the prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity in Australia between 1985 and 2008. Int J Obes (Lond) 2010;34:57–66. doi: 10.1038/ijo.2009.211. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Salanave B, Peneau S, Rolland-Cachera MF, Hercberg S, Castetbon K. Stabilization of overweight prevalence in French children between 2000 and 2007. Int J Pediatr Obes. 2009;4:66–72. doi: 10.1080/17477160902811207. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Troiano RP, Flegal KM. Overweight children and adolescents: description, epidemiology, and demographics. Pediatrics. 1998;101:497–504. - PubMed

Publication types