Physical activity intensity, bout-duration, and cardiometabolic risk markers in children and adolescents

Publication: International Journal of Obesity

Tarp J, Child A, White T, Westgate K, Bugge A, Grontved A, et al.

13 July 2018


In this study the researchers wanted to determine the role of physical activity intensity and bout-duration in modulating associations between physical activity and cardiometabolic risk markers.

Cardiovascular disease accounted for 17.6 million deaths worldwide in 2016, making it the leading cause of non-communicable disease mortality. While the disease is generally a concern in adulthood, cardiometabolic risk factors may be present from a much earlier age, for example endothelial damage that leads to atherosclerosis can develop during adolescence. In addition, previous evidence suggests cardiometabolic risk factors may track from childhood and adolescence into adulthood. This makes it important to understand the modifiable determinants of cardiometabolic risk factors in young people. One such determinant is participation in physical activity.

Current national and international physical activity guidelines recommend adults should accumulate moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) or vigorous physical activity in bouts of at least 10 min duration. For children and adolescents, a daily total of at least 60 min of MVPA is recommended but many countries (including the U.S., U.K., Australia, and Canada) do not specify any minimum bout-duration for MVPA.

Providing the optimal guidance on how to perform health-enhancing physical activity is important for authorities and clinicians. However, whether short bouts of activity confer similar benefits to longer durations remains unclear and available evidence on this issue remains scarce in young people. Accelerometry is currently the de facto standard of objective physical activity assessment in large-scale epidemiological studies. It is well-established that accelerometry-determined MVPA levels are highly influenced by the choice of intensity threshold but it has not been sufficiently explored how varying the intensity threshold impacts on associations with cardiometabolic risk factors.

Further, whether higher (or lower) intensity physical activity may be particularly beneficial for cardiometabolic risk factors at longer bout-durations has yet to be examined.

Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess how physical activity of different intensities and accumulated in bouts of varying duration relates to cardiometabolic health in young people.

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