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. 2024 Feb 21;24(1):544.
doi: 10.1186/s12889-024-18055-2.

Relations between the levels of moderate to vigorous physical activity, BMI, dietary habits, cognitive functions and attention problems in 8 to 9 years old pupils: network analysis (PACH Study)

Affiliations

Relations between the levels of moderate to vigorous physical activity, BMI, dietary habits, cognitive functions and attention problems in 8 to 9 years old pupils: network analysis (PACH Study)

Jelena Raudeniece et al. BMC Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Physical activity (PA) and dietary habits (DH) play a crucial role on quality of life and health outcomes from various aspects.

Methods: This study aims to investigate the relations between recommended daily levels of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) in 8 to 9 year old pupils, and their body mass index (BMI), DH, cognitive functions and attention problem scores by network analysis. Study participants were split into two groups based on their MVPA levels on weekdays.

Results: Our findings suggest that children who reach recommended MVPA levels consume more vegetables and fruits, eat breakfast more frequently, have better motor speed and lower impulsivity score.

Conclusions: The number of interlinkages between various parameters in network structure for children who do not reach recommended MVPA levels is greater and more intense, highlighting the differences between the groups and suggesting that different interventions and approaches to improve/change lifestyle habits might be used.

Keywords: Body mass index; Cognitive functions; Dietary habits; Elementary school; Emotional health; Pupils; Structured physical activity.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing of interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Network graph of study measures in the whole sample. Positive partial correlations are indicated as blue lines, while negative ones are indicated as red lines. The thickness of the lines reflects the degree of partial correlation, with thicker lines indicating stronger relations and thinner lines indicating weaker ones. * 1 - never; 2 - sometimes; 3 - almost every day; 4 - every day. ** sum of nuts/dried fruits, fruits, yoghurt. *** sum of cookies, sweet bakery, salty nuts, French fries, popcorn, chips, chocolate, chocolate sweets, ice – cream. **** 0 - water; 1 - tea; 2 - soft drinks/sweetened juices. ***** 1 - no, 2 - yes
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Network graph of study measures in OPTIMAL-MVPA and LOW-MVPA. OPTIMAL-MVPA—children who reach WHO recommendations for MVPA. LOW-MVPA—children who do not reach WHO recommendations for MVPA. Positive partial correlations are indicated as blue lines, while negative ones are indicated as red lines. The thickness of the lines reflects the degree of partial correlation, with thicker lines indicating stronger relations and thinner lines indicating weaker ones. * 1—never; 2—sometimes; 3—almost every day; 4—every day. ** sum of nuts/dried fruits, fruits, yoghurt. *** sum of cookies, sweet bakery, salty nuts, French fries, popcorn, chips, chocolate, chocolate sweets, ice – cream. **** 0—water; 1—tea; 2—soft drinks/sweetened juices. ***** 1—no, 2—yes
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Centrality measures of variables in network structure comparing groups. 1 Betweenness—How well one node connects other nodes (the number of times that a node lies on the shortest path between two other nodes). 2 Closeness—How strongly a node is indirectly connected (average distance from the node to all other nodes in the network). 3 Strength—How strongly a node is directly connected (absolute sum of edge weights connected to a node). 4 Expected influence—the sum of all edges extending from a given node (maintaining the sign). Expected influence computes node strength without taking the absolute value of edge-weights. * 1—never; 2—sometimes; 3—almost every day; 4—every day. ** sum of nuts/dried fruits, fruits, yoghurt. *** sum of cookies, sweet bakery, salty nuts, French fries, popcorn, chips, chocolate, chocolate sweets, ice – cream. **** 0—water; 1—tea; 2—soft drinks/sweetened juices. ***** 1—no, 2—yes

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