Seasonal Variations in Meeting Physical Activity Recommendations and Development of Overweight during Adolescence

摘要

>Background: Few longitudinal studies have examined seasonal variation in meeting physical activity (PA) recommendations in association with incident overweight among adolescents.>Methods: We assessed self-reported, season-specific PA among 12,949 adolescents in two US cohorts (Growing Up Today Studies 1 and 2). We examined the relationship between the number of seasons per year that adolescents met the recommended amount of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and vigorous physical activity (VPA), respectively, and the development of incident overweight at the next survey period. The sex-specific analyses controlled for follow-up time, survey month, age, race/ethnicity, sexual maturation, television viewing, region of the country, and intakes of sugar-sweetened beverages and fried foods away from home.>Results: About one-third (34%) of adolescents met the MVPA recommendation of 60 minutes/day, and one-quarter (24%) the VPA recommendation of 3 hours/week, for four seasons of the baseline year. The risk of becoming overweight was 23% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 5%–45%) higher for girls who met the MVPA recommendation for 2 (vs. 4) seasons/year. The risk was similar for girls who met the recommendation for 1 (vs. 4) season/year (odds ratio = 1.23, 95% CI: 1.05–1.44). The number of seasons each year boys met the MVPA recommendation, or girls or boys met the VPA recommendation, was not associated with an increased risk of incident overweight.>Conclusions: Meeting the MVPA recommendation for 1 or 2 (vs. 4) seasons/year is related to higher risk of becoming overweight among adolescent girls but not boys. Interventions to increase PA levels each season may contribute to overweight prevention efforts among girls.