Patterns of movement behaviors and their association with overweight and obesity in youth

Abstract

Objectives: To identify underlying subgroups based on patterns of physical activity, screen-based sedentary behavior, and sleep in a large sample of Canadian youth and to examine the associations between the identified subgroups and overweight and obesity.

Methods: The study is based on 19,831 youth aged 13-18 years from across Ontario, Canada in the COMPASS study. Participants self-reported their movement behaviors (i.e., physical activity, sedentary behavior and sleep), height and weight, and demographics. Latent class analysis and logistic regression models were conducted.

Results: Three underlying subgroups were identified in the total sample and male and female subsamples (i.e., unhealthiest movers, active screenies, healthiest movers). In the total sample, the active screenies subgroup was 1.19 (95 % CI 1.09-1.29) times and the unhealthiest movers subgroup was 1.24 (1.14-1.36) times more likely to be classified as overweight/obese compared to the healthiest movers subgroup. Similar associations were observed in the female subsample but not in the male subsample.

Conclusions: Public health interventions targeting youth subgroups at increased risk of overweight and obesity through integrated approaches accounting for multiple movement behaviors should be considered, especially for females.