Beyond weight: associations between 24-hour movement behaviors, cardiometabolic and cognitive health in adolescents with and without obesity

ABSTRACT

Background

Adolescence is a critical time for establishing behaviors. 24-hour movement behaviors, including physical activity, sleep, and sedentary time, are likely to influence obesity, cardiovascular, and cognitive health. The aim was to examine associations between 24-hr movement behaviors, cardiometabolic health and cognitive functions in adolescents with and without obesity.

Methods

This was a cross-sectional study that included adolescents (n = 30, ages 12–16) with obesity and normal weight controls matched on age and sex. 24-hr movement behaviors of physical activity, sedentary time, and sleep were assessed using waist-worn accelerometers. Cardiometabolic health was measured using flow-mediated dilation (FMD) in the brachial artery, body composition via dual x-ray absorptiometry, blood pressure, and blood analyses of cholesterol, glucose, and insulin. Cognitive health was assessed using two computer-based tasks. Linear regressions were used to examine associations between 24-hr movement behaviors, cardiometabolic health, and cognition.

Results

In examining relationships between 24-hr movement behaviors and cardiometabolic health, when adjusted for body fat percentage, MVPA was positively associated with cardiovascular health (FMD log difference 0.1, 95%CI: 0.003, 95%CI: .001, .01, p = .020), sedentary time was negatively associated (−0.7, 95%CI: −1.3, −0.2, p = .016), and total sleep time was negatively associated with HDL cholesterol (−0.1, 95%CI: −0.2, −0.005, p = .039). There were no statistically significant associations between 24-hr movement behaviors and cognitive outcomes, except sleep and reactive control. When examining relationships between cardiometabolic and cognitive outcomes, higher HDL was associated with improved cognitive accuracy and higher insulin was associated with slower reaction times.

Conclusions

24-hour movement behaviors of MVPA, sedentary time, and sleep time were associated with cardiometabolic measurements in a small sample. 24-hr movement behaviors, particularly MVPA and sedentary time, may be important behaviors for cardiometabolic health in adolescents, independent of body composition. Additional research is needed on the triadic relationship between 24-hr movement behaviors, cardiometabolic health, and cognitive performance.

KEYWORDS:

• Cognition
• physical activity
• sleep
• sedentary

Acknowledgments

We sincerely thank all participants and parents for their participation and Matthew Paxton for assisting in data collection. This work was funded by an ABI Biomedical Research Grant from the Arkansas Biosciences Institute and supported by an Honors College Research Grant.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Arkansas Biosciences Institute .