Physical Activity in Preschool Children Measured With Actiheart Monitors

Background and objectives: There are scarce records of physical activity in children of developing countries. Methods: With this objective, 77 preschoolers (5.9 y of age, 37 girls, 40 boys) were evaluated according to WHO growth standards; total daily energy expenditure (TEE) was measured by Actiheart monitors, each 15 seconds during two week-days and 1 week-end-day, values were weighed for a week, and cleaned with the software of the University La Plata, Argentina. Results: Boys with similar age and BMI, showed higher TEE values than girls (1489 vs.1372 kcal/d; p=0, 03), and also per kg body weight (68, 5 vs. 59; p=0, 04). As a consequence of the boys´ higher BMR (1013 vs. 944 kcal/d, p=0.014), the PAL values of boys and girls were low (1, 44 and 1, 45) and not different (p=0.87). Normal vs. overweight boys, showed higher TEE (72 vs. 57 kcal/kg, p=0.000005) in spite of the higher BMR of the overweight ones (1195 vs 957, p= 0.00000). Overweight boys expended less time than the normal ones in moderate+heavy physical activity (35 vs. 101 min/d, p=0.011) and showed lower values of energy expended in physical activity (AEE, 16 vs. 23 kcal/kg/d, p=0.03), and similar Physical Activity Level (PAL, 1.40 vs. 1, 47, p=0.42); but not girls (58 vs.94 min/d, p=0.19) (AEE, 17.2 vs. 17.9 kcal/kg/d, p=0.75) (PAL, 1.49 vs. 1, 38, p=0.23). Conclusions: Cuban preschool children showed all a low physical activity level; half of them did not accomplish the daily physical activity recommendation.