Occurrence and duration of various operational definitions of sedentary bouts and cross-sectional associations with cardiometabolic health indicators: the ENERGY-project

OBJECTIVE

This study examined the occurrence and duration of sedentary bouts and explored the cross-sectional association with health indicators in children applying various operational definitions of sedentary bouts.

METHODS

Accelerometer data of 647 children (10-13 years old) were collected in five European countries. We analyzed sedentary time (<100 cpm) accumulated in bouts of at least 5, 10, 20 or 30 min based on four operational definitions, allowing 0, 30 or 60s ≥100 cpm within bouts. Health indicators included anthropometrics (i.e. waist circumference and body mass index (BMI)) and in a subsample from two European countries (n=112) fasting capillary blood levels of glucose, C-peptide, high-density- and low-density cholesterol, and triglycerides. Data collection took place from March to July 2010. Associations were adjusted for age, gender, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, total wear time and country.

RESULTS

Occurrence of sedentary bouts varied largely between the various definitions. Children spent most of their sedentary time in bouts of ≥5 min while bouts of ≥20 min were rare. Linear regression analysis revealed few significant associations of sedentary time accumulated in bouts of ≥5-30 min with health indicators. Moreover, we found that more associations became significant when allowing no tolerance time within sedentary bouts.

CONCLUSION

Despite a few significant associations, we found no convincing evidence for an association between sedentary time accumulated in bouts and health indicators in 10-13 year old children.