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physical activity and obesity-related outcomes
- Jurgen Damen, Rogier van Rijn (26 August 2008)
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Jurgen Damen, Gp trainee/ PhD student Department of General Practice, Erasmus MC ¡§C University Medical Center Rotterdam, The Netherlands, Rogier van Rijn
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j.damen{at}erasmusmc.nl Jurgen Damen, et al.
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We read with interest the article of Metcalf et al. on physical activity and obesity-related outcomes.1 The authors conclude a minimal physical activity of ¡Ý3 MET, the Government-recommended intensity, is associated with an improvement in metabolic health but not with a change in BMI. However, we have some concerns regarding this conclusion. First of all, the authors distinguished between boys and girls and subsequently divide them into subgroups of less and more active. However, baseline figures for these subgroups are not provided, making the results difficult to interpret. Even more important, as change in BMI was one of the outcomes, one would not expect that the probably leaner children at baseline in the more active group would decrease in BMI when having the recommended physical activity. Thus, considering that childhood obesity is increasing nowadays, not gaining in BMI should be considered an achievement in contrast to what the authors implicate. Secondly, we question the authors's choice of dichotomizing physical activity at the median activity level. The authors argue that the original cut of point of ¡Ý3MET (Government-recommended intensity) was achieved in small numbers only, and therefore analysed their data with a cut off point at the median activity level. We think that by using this arbitrary cut off point the authors lose considerable power and that these analysis do not contribute to their original research question. |
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