Reisberg Kirkke, Riso Eva-Maria, Animägi Liina, Jürimäe Jaak
Department of Physiotherapy and Environmental Health, Tartu Health Care College, Tartu, 50411, Estonia.
Institute of Sport Sciences and Physiotherapy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tartu, Tartu, 51008, Estonia.
BMC Pediatr. 2024 Dec 30;24(1):848. doi: 10.1186/s12887-024-05336-3.
Low physical activity and high sedentary behaviour is a concern already during preschool period with potential impacts on children's future cognitive health in school. However, longitudinal data regarding the associations of physical activity, sedentary time and cognition at young age are limited, thus the aim of this study was to investigate whether objectively monitored moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and sedentary time at preschool age are related to cognitive skills in the first grade of school among boys and girls.
Participants were boys (n = 50, aged 6.6 ± 0.5 years) and girls (n = 41, aged 6.5 ± 0.5 years) from thirteen kindergartens and the same children after entering first grade of school. MVPA and sedentary time were measured by means of accelerometer. Modified Boehm-3 test was used to assess cognitive skills.
MVPA in preschool was unrelated to perceptual, conceptual or verbal skills in school in boys and girls. In boys, higher sedentary time in preschool was associated with higher conceptual skills (β = 0.461, p = 0.040) in school after adjustment for age, baseline conceptual skills, accelerometer wear time and parental education.
In conclusion, higher sedentariness in preschool is associated with higher conceptual skills in grade one among boys but not in girls. MVPA in preschool is unrelated to cognitive skills in school among boys and girls. The results indicate that perceptual, conceptual and verbal skills in first grade of school are not affected by MVPA level in preschool neither among boys, nor girls. Regarding conceptual skills in school, boys might benefit from sedentary activities during preschool period.
低体力活动和高久坐行为在学龄前阶段就已成为一个问题，可能会对儿童未来在学校的认知健康产生影响。然而，关于年轻时体力活动、久坐时间与认知之间关联的纵向数据有限，因此本研究的目的是调查学龄前客观监测的中度至剧烈体力活动（MVPA）和久坐时间是否与一年级男生和女生的认知技能相关。
参与者为来自13所幼儿园的男孩（n = 50，年龄6.6±0.5岁）和女孩（n = 41，年龄6.5±0.5岁），以及他们进入小学一年级后的同一批儿童。通过加速度计测量MVPA和久坐时间。使用改良的博伊姆-3测试评估认知技能。
学龄前的MVPA与男生和女生在学校的感知、概念或语言技能无关。在男生中，调整年龄、基线概念技能、加速度计佩戴时间和父母教育程度后，学龄前较高的久坐时间与学校较高的概念技能相关（β = 0.461，p = 0.040）。
总之，学龄前较高的久坐程度与一年级男生的较高概念技能相关，而与女生无关。学龄前的MVPA与男生和女生在学校的认知技能无关。结果表明，一年级男生和女生在学校的感知、概念和语言技能不受学龄前MVPA水平的影响。关于学校的概念技能，男生可能在学龄前阶段从久坐活动中受益。
