Weekly Frequency of Meeting the Physical Activity Guidelines and Cardiometabolic Health in Children and Adolescents.

The current physical activity (PA) guidelines for children and adolescents in the U.S. recommend ≥60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous intensity PA (MVPA), 7 days per week for cardiometabolic health (CmH) benefits. Although the duration and intensity components of the PA guidelines have been rigorously studied, the frequency (7 days/week) component has not been thoroughly researched. Purpose To examine the association of the frequency component of the weekly PA guidelines on CmH in youth. Methods Cross-sectional accelerometer data from the 2003-06 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey included youth aged 6-18 years with ≥4 days, ≥10 hours of wear time, and averaging ≥60 min/day of MVPA (n = 656). Participants were categorized into quartiles based on the proportion of days where they met the guidelines (≥60 min of MVPA). CmH variables were categorized as weight status/body anthropometrics, blood pressure, cholesterol, and fasting serum labs. Propensity score weighting was applied to quartiles and general linear modeling was used to compare associations of quartiles to CmH variables. Results Results are displayed as percent of days meeting guidelines (DMG) (95% CI); MVPA min/week: Q1 (n = 156; DMG = 45.8% (43.4-48.1); MVPA 467.5 min/week); Q2 (n = 165; DMG = 62.6% (61.6-63.7); MVPA 474.4 min/week); Q3 (n = 148; DMG = 75% (74.1-75.8); MVPA 446.5 min/week); Q4 (n = 187; DMG = 92.2% (87.7-96.6); MVPA 453.2 min/week). After adjusting for confounders and multiple comparisons, there were no clinically significant differences in weight status/body anthropometrics, blood pressure, cholesterol, or fasting serum labs between DMG quartiles. Conclusion We found no association between proportion of DMG and CmH in children and adolescents. Our study suggests that achieving an overall weekly average of 60 minutes/day of MVPA appears to be sufficient for CmH regardless of the 7 day/week frequency requirement of the PA guideline.