Healthy lifestyles and physical fitness are associated with abdominal obesity among Latin-American and Spanish preschool children: A cross-cultural study

Latorre-Román, Pedro Ángel ; Guzmán-Guzmán, Iris Paola ; Párraga-Montilla, Juan ; Caamaño-Navarrete, Felipe ; Salas-Sánchez, Jesús ; Palomino-Devia, Constanza ; Reyes-Oyola, Felipe Augusto ; Álvarez, Cristian ; Casa-Pérez, Ana ; Cardona Linares, Antonio J. (Universidad de Zaragoza) ; Delgado-Floody, Pedro

Resumen: Background: Identifying environmental factors that influence health in children are necessary to develop preventive strategies.
Objective: To determine the association between the lifestyles of children (i.e., Mediterranean diet (MD), physical activity (PA), fitness and screen time (ST) with
abdominal obesity (AO) of preschoolers from three Spanish-speaking countries (Chile, Colombia and Spain) with different socioeconomic levels and Human Development
Index (HDI) indicators.
Material and Methods: This cross-sectional study included 982 schoolchildren (aged 4–6 years; 56.8% girls) from Chile (n = 409), Colombia (n = 281), and Spain (n = 292). Body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), waist-to-height ratio (WtHR), adherence to the MD, PA, ST and physical fitness were evaluated.
Results: Spanish preschoolers reported a lower WtHR (p < 0.001), greater physical fitness (Z-score) (p < 0.001) and higher adherence to the MD (p < 0.001) than their
Chilean and Colombian peers. In addition, Colombian preschoolers had a better lifestyle (PA + ST) than their Chilean and Spanish peers (p < 0.001). Chilean preschoolers
reported a higher prevalence of AO than the Spanish preschoolers (65% vs.
51.9%; p = 0.001).
Conclusion: Lifestyle had a significant association with AO among Spanish-speaking preschool children, with physical fitness especially being a relevant factor regardless of the country of origin. The findings of the current study may support the development of public guidelines focusing on healthy lifestyles in children to create effective plans that contribute to the early treatment of AO in preschool children.

Idioma: Inglés

DOI: 10.1111/IJPO.12901

Año: 2022

Publicado en: Pediatric obesity 17, 7 (2022), 1-8
ISSN: 2047-6302

Factor impacto JCR: 3.8 (2022)

Categ. JCR: PEDIATRICS rank: 17 / 130 = 0.131 (2022) - Q1 - T1

Factor impacto CITESCORE: 7.0 - Nursing (Q1) - Medicine (Q1)

Factor impacto SCIMAGO: 1.202 - Health Policy (Q1) - Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health (Q1) - Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health (Q1) - Nutrition and Dietetics (Q1)

Tipo y forma: Article (Published version)

Área (Departamento): Área Educación Física y Depor. (Dpto. Fisiatría y Enfermería)