Serrano-Gallén Guiomar, Arias-Palencia Natalia M, González-Víllora Sixto, Gil-López Víctor, Solera-Martínez Monserrat
Faculty of Education, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Cuenca, Spain.
Faculty of Nursing, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Cuenca, Spain.
Transl Pediatr. 2022 Jul;11(7):1095-1104. doi: 10.21037/tp-22-30.
Physical activity (PA), fatness and fitness in children and teenagers have been associated with short and long-term health benefits. However, little research analyzing these variables focuses on the preschool education stage. Thus, the objective of this research is to study the relationship between PA, fatness and fitness in 3-6 years old boys and girls.
This cross-sectional study includes 150 boys and girls at age between 3 and 6 years. Fatness and fitness were assessed using a PREFIT (FITness testing in PREschool children) battery as well as the sit and reach test. PA levels were measured using accelerometers for 7 days.
Higher PA levels were related to better fitness values. In addition, differences were found in the PA levels between boys and girls. However, PA subcomponents were not related to fatness. Furthermore, there were no significant differences in fitness tests between underweight, normal-weight and over-weight children, except in handgrip strength.
The few studies that have analyzed the relationship between fatness, fitness and PA in preschool have revealed controversial results. However, our study is in accordance with the majority of studies which prove that PA is associated with better fitness performances in preschool children. Since fitness is an important indicator of health, schools and parents should encourage children to practice more daily PA, especially girls, who are less active than boys. However, the discrepancy about the relationship between PA and fatness between the results of the different research highlights the necessity of carrying out further studies that analyze the relationship between these 3 variables separately in each age group (3, 4, 5 and 6 years). This is due to the fact that associations were stronger in older children rather than in younger children.
儿童和青少年的身体活动（PA）、肥胖程度和健康状况与短期和长期健康益处相关。然而，很少有分析这些变量的研究关注学前教育阶段。因此，本研究的目的是探讨3至6岁男孩和女孩的PA、肥胖程度和健康状况之间的关系。
这项横断面研究纳入了150名年龄在3至6岁之间的男孩和女孩。使用PREFIT（学前儿童健康测试）套件以及坐位体前屈测试来评估肥胖程度和健康状况。使用加速度计测量7天的PA水平。
较高的PA水平与较好的健康值相关。此外，男孩和女孩之间的PA水平存在差异。然而，PA的各个子成分与肥胖程度无关。此外，除握力外，体重过轻、正常体重和超重儿童在健康测试中没有显著差异。
少数分析学前儿童肥胖程度、健康状况和PA之间关系的研究得出了有争议的结果。然而，我们的研究与大多数研究一致，这些研究证明PA与学前儿童更好的健康表现相关。由于健康是健康的重要指标，学校和家长应鼓励儿童增加日常PA，尤其是女孩，她们比男孩活动少。然而，不同研究结果之间关于PA与肥胖程度关系的差异凸显了进一步开展研究的必要性，即分别分析每个年龄组（3岁、4岁、5岁和6岁）这三个变量之间的关系。这是因为在年龄较大的儿童中关联更强，而在年龄较小的儿童中则不然。
