The Relationship between Obesity and Physical Activity of Children in the Spotlight of Their Parents' Excessive Body Weight.

BACKGROUND

The study reveals the relationships between daily physical activity (PA) and the prevalence of obesity in family members separated according to the participation of their offspring in organized leisure-time physical activity (OLTPA), and answers the question of whether the participation of children in OLTPA is associated with a lower prevalence of obesity in offspring with respect to parental PA and body weight level.

METHODS

The cross-sectional study included 1493 parent-child dyads (915/578 mother/father-child aged 4-16 years) from Czechia selected by two-stage stratified random sampling with complete data on body weight status and weekly PA gathered over a regular school week between 2013 and 2019.

RESULTS

The children who participated in OLTPA ≥ three times a week had a significantly lower ( < 0.005) prevalence of obesity than the children without participation in OLTPA (5.0% vs. 11.1%). Even in the case of overweight/obese mothers/fathers, the children with OLTPA ≥ three times a week had a significantly lower ( < 0.002) prevalence of obesity than the children without OLTPA (6.7%/4.2% vs. 14.9%/10.7%).

CONCLUSIONS

The cumulative effect of regular participation in OLTPA and a child's own PA is a stronger alleviator of children's obesity than their parents' risk of overweight/obesity.