Accelerometer based independent and combined associations of physical activity and sedentary time on physical fitness in preschool children: a cross-sectional study

Fang, Chunyi; Li, Longkai; Jin, Zhenhua; He, Changshuang; Liang, Feng; Ye, Xiangming; Lu, Yaofei; Quan, Minghui

doi:10.1038/s41598-025-00626-x

Table 3 Descriptive characteristics of the preschool children (N = 375).

From: Accelerometer based independent and combined associations of physical activity and sedentary time on physical fitness in preschool children: a cross-sectional study

Characteristics	Low active		High active		P for groups
	High sedentary (n = 120)	Low sedentary (n = 135)	High sedentary (n = 67)	Low sedentary (n = 53)
	(Group 1)	(Group 2)	(Group 3)	(Group 4)
Age (months)	58.13 ± 5.59	57.33 ± 5.30	58.99 ± 5.48	57.76 ± 5.31	0.222
Weight (Kg)	19.59 ± 3.10	19.60 ± 3.26	20.91 ± 3.37 ^{b, c}	20.41 ± 3.47	0.007
Height (cm)	110.65 ± 4.55	110.30 ± 5.00	112.42 ± 4.88 ^{b, c}	111.42 ± 5.50	0.016
Body mass index (Kg/m²)	15.96 ± 1.90	16.04 ± 1.93	16.49 ± 1.89	16.34 ± 1.56	0.220
VPA (min/day)	35.13 ± 7.00	34.30 ± 6.67	48.72 ± 6.83 ^{b, c}	48.20 ± 6.83 ^{d, e,f}	< 0.001
MVPA (min/day)	61.75 ± 11.67	60.67 ± 13.33	86.06 ± 11.64 ^{b, c}	89.35 ± 11.86 ^{d, e}	< 0.001
TPA (min/day)	148.82 ± 21.98	142.26 ± 24.19	199.85 ± 15.85 ^{b, c}	201.66 ± 16.99 ^{d, e}	< 0.001
ST (min/day)	627.41 ± 39.22	504.13 ± 62.28 ^a	615.52 ± 36.58 ^c	514.94 ± 48.76 ^{d, f}	< 0.001
20 m shuttle run (laps)	12.64 ± 4.89	12.21 ± 4.58	12.87 ± 4.77	13.47 ± 4.63	0.110
Handgrip (kg)	6.18 ± 2.33	6.34 ± 2.16	7.23 ± 2.27 ^{b, c}	7.06 ± 2.68 ^d	0.010
Standing long jump (cm)	82.61 ± 15.12	84.06 ± 16.17	85.30 ± 18.88	86.49 ± 16.16	0.286
2 × 10 m shuttle run (s)	7.30 ± 0.74	7.30 ± 0.82	7.06 ± 0.99	7.00 ± 0.62 ^{d, e}	0.002
Accelerometer wear time (min/day)	770.38 ± 57.23	658.40 ± 69.76 ^a	810.82 ± 54.04 ^{b, c}	714.73 ± 71.37 ^{d, e,f}	< 0.001
Physical fitness composite Z-score	-0.08 ± 0.72	-0.07 ± 0.75	0.13 ± 0.85	0.19 ± 0.73 ^{d, e}	0.012
High physical fitness (n, %)
Yes	24 (20.00%)	28 (20.74%)	22 (32.84%)	18 (33.96%)
No	96 (80.00%)	107 (79.26%)	45 (67.16%)	35 (60.04%)

The data are expressed as means ± SDs. ^a Group 2 versus Group 1, P<0.05; ^b Group 3 versus Group 1, P<0.05; ^c Group 3 versus Group 2, P<0.05; ^d Group 4 versus Group 1, P<0.05; ^e Group 4 versus Group 2, P<0.05; ^f Group 4 versus Group 3, P<0.05.
Abbreviations: VPA: vigorous physical activity; MVPA: moderate-to-vigorous physical activity; TPA: total physical activity; ST: sedentary time.

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