Combining diaries and accelerometers to explain change in physical activity during a lifestyle intervention for adults with pre-diabetes: A PREVIEW sub-study.

Self-report and device-based measures of physical activity (PA) both have unique strengths and limitations; combining these measures should provide complementary and comprehensive insights to PA behaviours. Therefore, we aim to 1) identify PA clusters and clusters of change in PA based on self-reported daily activities and 2) assess differences in device-based PA between clusters in a lifestyle intervention, the PREVIEW diabetes prevention study. In total, 232 participants with overweight and prediabetes (147 women; 55.9 ± 9.5yrs; BMI ≥25 kg·m-2; impaired fasting glucose and/or impaired glucose tolerance) were clustered using a partitioning around medoids algorithm based on self-reported daily activities before a lifestyle intervention and their changes after 6 and 12 months. Device-assessed PA levels (PAL), sedentary time (SED), light PA (LPA), and moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) were assessed using ActiSleep+ accelerometers and compared between clusters using (multivariate) analyses of covariance. At baseline, the self-reported "walking and housework" cluster had significantly higher PAL, MVPA and LPA, and less SED than the "inactive" cluster. LPA was higher only among the "cycling" cluster. There was no difference in the device-based measures between the "social-sports" and "inactive" clusters. Looking at the changes after 6 months, the "increased walking" cluster showed the greatest increase in PAL while the "increased cycling" cluster accumulated the highest amount of LPA. The "increased housework" and "increased supervised sports" reported least favourable changes in device-based PA. After 12 months, there was only minor change in activities between the "increased walking and cycling", "no change" and "increased supervised sports" clusters, with no significant differences in device-based measures. Combining self-report and device-based measures provides better insights into the behaviours that change during an intervention. Walking and cycling may be suitable activities to increase PA in adults with prediabetes.

Active school transport routines during school transitions: Socio-structural predictors of changes from childhood into early adulthood.

The purpose of this study is to investigate socio-structural predictors of active school transport (AST) change and to explore the stability and changes of transport modes during school transitions and into early adulthood in Germany. School transport mode, urbanicity level, socioeconomic status, and migration background were assessed in 624 children (8.9 ± 1.1 years, 51% female) and 444 adolescents (14.9 ± 1.7 years, 48% female) which were followed up longitudinally six years later. The results of multinomial logistic regressions and transition probability calculations indicated that residing outside of rural areas at baseline and follow-up predicts retaining or switching to AST in adolescence. Similarly, higher socioeconomic status at baseline predicted retaining or switching to AST in early adulthood. This research suggests that transition periods are crucial understanding AST behavior and may provide new opportunities for tailored AST promotion programs for different age groups.

Habitual physical activity in patients born with oesophageal atresia: a multicenter cross-sectional study and comparison to a healthy reference cohort matched for gender and age.

Oesophageal atresia (EA) is associated with life-long gastrointestinal and respiratory morbidity and other associated malformations. The aim of this study is to compare physical activity (PA) levels of children and adolescents with and without EA. A validated questionnaire (MoMo-PAQ) was used to evaluate PA in EA patients EA (4-17 years), who were randomly matched for gender and age (1:5) with a representative sample of the Motorik-Modul Longitudinal Study (n = 6233). Sports activity per week (sports index) and minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per week (MVPA minutes) were calculated. Correlations between PA and medical factors were analysed. In total, 104 patients and 520 controls were included. Children with EA were significantly less active at higher intensities (mean MPVA minutes 462; 95% confidence interval (CI): 370-554) compared to controls (626; 95% CI: 576-676), although there was no statistically significant difference in the sports index (187; 95% CI: 156-220 versus 220; 95% CI: 203-237). A lower mean weight-for-age and height-for-age, additional urogenital (r = - 0.20, p = 0.04) or anorectal malformation (r = - 0.24, p = 0.01) were associated with fewer MVPA minutes. For other medical factors (prematurity, type of repair, congenital heart disease, skeletal malformation or symptom load), no statistically significant association with PA was found.  Conclusion: EA patients participated in PA at a similar level but lower intensities compared to the reference cohort. PA in EA patients was largely independent of medical factors. TRIAL REGISTRATION: German Clinical Trials Register (ID: DRKS00025276) on September 6, 2021. WHAT IS KNOWN: • Oesophageal atresia is associated with a low body weight and height, delayed development of motor skills and impaired lung function and exercise capacity. WHAT IS NEW: • Patients with oesophageal atresia have a similar amount of sports activity per week but engage significantly less in moderate to vigorous physical activities compared to peers. • Physical activity was  associated with weight-for-age and height-for-age, but largely independent of symptom load and other medical factors.

Physical Activity and Recurrent Pain in Children and Adolescents in Germany-Results from the MoMo Study.

Recurrent pain can be a significant disruption in the activities of daily life, and is not only a health problem in adults but also in children and adolescents. This study analyzed the prevalence of recurrent pain in the current sample (n = 1516; 11-17 years (meanage = 14.4 ± 2.0 years); 50.8% female) of a nationwide study in Germany, evaluated the association of participants' device-based physical activity (PA) with the prevalence of recurrent pain, and assessed whether children and adolescents who reported pain for the last three months accumulated less PA than those who did not. A higher prevalence was found in girls for recurrent headaches (42.2% vs. 28.7%), abdominal pain (28.2% vs. 20.1%), and back pain (26.9% vs. 19.5%). We found higher odds for recurrent headaches in girls (OR = 1.54) and in participants that did not reach at least 60 min of moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA) per day (OR = 2.06). Girls who reported recurrent headaches accumulated 4.7 min less MVPA per day than those without. The prevalence of pain remains at a high level in the German youth and underscores the need for interventions to improve the health situations of children and adolescents.

Overestimation of maximal aerobic speed by the Université de Montréal track test and a 1500-m-time trial in soccer.

Introduction: Maximal aerobic speed (MAS), usually measured by cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) on a treadmill, is gaining popularity in soccer to determine aerobic performance. Several field tests are used to estimate MAS, although, gold standard methods are still not clarified. Therefore, this work aims 1) to compare two different CPET based methods to assess MAS and 2) to investigate the convergent validity of two common field tests to estimate MAS in soccer. Methods: Thirteen trained male soccer players completed an CPET on a treadmill to determine two VO2-kinetic based definitions of MAS (MASPlateau = speed at onset of VO2-plateau = gold standard; MAS30s = first speed of 30-s-interval of VO2max), the Université de Montreal Track Test (UMTT; VUMTT = speed of the last stage), and a 1500-m-time trial (1500-m-TT; V1500m = average speed). MASPlateau, MAS30s, VUMTT, and V1500m were compared using ANOVA. Additionally, limits of agreement analysis (LoA), Pearson's r, and ICC were calculated between tests. Results: MAS30s, VUMTT, and V1500m significantly overestimated MASPlateau by 0.99 km/h (ES = 1.61; p < 0.01), 1.61 km/h (ES = 2.03; p < 0.01) and 1.68 km/h (ES = 1.77; p < 0.01), respectively, with large LoA (-0.21 ≤ LoA≤3.55), however with large-to-very large correlations (0.65 ≤ r ≤ 0.87; p ≤ 0.02; 0.51 ≤ ICC≤ 0.85; p ≤ 0.03). Discussion: The overestimation and large LoA of MASPlateau by all estimates indicate that 1) a uniform definition of MAS is needed and 2) the UMTT and a 1500-m-TT seem questionable for estimating MAS for trained soccer players on an individual basis, while regression equations might be suitable on a team level. The results of the present work contribute to the clarification of acquisition of MAS in soccer.

Associations between swimming & cycling abilities and fitness in 9-11 year old boys and girls.

The associations between swimming and cycling abilities and fitness levels in 9-11-year-old children were examined. A cross-sectional study involving 2258 children (50.7% boys; aged 10.52 ± 0.6 years) from 33 schools across Wales, participated in Swan/BridgeLinx health, fitness, and lifestyle programmes between 2013-2019. Health and fitness data were collected; namely body composition, cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular strength, flexibility, power, and speed using standardised measures. Children completed an online survey collecting data on swimming and cycling abilities and sports club attendance. Multivariate multilevel regressions were used to examine the associations between measures. The ability to swim and cycle was significantly (p < 0.05) associated with all components of fitness when accounting for age, body mass index (BMI), deprivation, gender, and sports club attendance. Boys outperformed girls with significant interactions between swimming, cycling and cardiorespiratory fitness for gender by swim (p = 0.001) and gender by cycle (p = 0.015). The gender by cycle interaction significantly predicted grip strength and power (p < 0.05). Swimming and cycling are important "milestones" in the journey of motor development and are associated with higher levels of fitness. These activities should be promoted to allow for an optimal development of motor skills, fitness, and health.

Interventions to Promote Positive Affect and Physical Activity in Children, Adolescents and Young Adults-A Systematic Review.

Interventions to promote physical activity (PA) in children, adolescents and young adults based on social-cognitive theories often fail to increase PA. In recent years, affect-based approaches have gained interest, but the current state of research is not sufficiently reported. Therefore, a systematic review about the influence of interventions to promote positive affect and PA enjoyment and PA in children, adolescents and young adults was conducted. Literature searches were carried out including studies published between September 2009 and April 2019. Intervention studies targeting healthy children, adolescents or young adults and measuring enjoyment and PA were included. Thirteen studies met the inclusion criteria, including five group-based PA interventions, three multi-component school interventions, two internet-based interventions and three exergaming interventions. Most studies use multiple components in their intervention. Group-based PA programs incorporating task-oriented teaching styles and opportunities for voluntary PA are most consistently associated with positive findings. This review shows moderate evidence of interventions for children, adolescents and young adults being effective in increasing enjoyment and PA. Besides physical education and comprehensive school interventions, heterogenous intervention designs limit the comparability of studies. Future research should focus on theory-based, multi-component interventions with mediator analyses.