Original articlePrevalence of Metabolically Healthy but Overweight/Obese Phenotype and Its Association With Sedentary Time, Physical Activity, and Fitness
Section snippets
Study design
The present study is under the framework of the HEalthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Adolescence Cross-Sectional Study (HELENA-CSS; www.helenastudy.com). The HELENA study was performed from 2006 to 2008 in 10 European cities. A total of 3,528 European adolescents aged 12.5–17.5 years participated in the study (participation rate: 61.3%) [10]. Details of recruitment, standardization, and harmonization processes were published elsewhere [11]. Blood samples were collected in one third of
Characteristics of the study sample and prevalence of MHO
Age, anthropometry, prevalence of MHO/non-MHO, FAS, maternal educational level, and puberty stage are shown in Table 1. Briefly, non-MHO adolescents had higher weight, height, and body mass index than MHO (all p ≤ .006). Prevalence of MHO and non-MHO in European adolescents from the HELENA study is shown in Figure 1. Overall, the prevalence of MHO was 80% (n = 190) and 70% (n = 166) for overweight/obese and obese groups, respectively. The prevalence of MHO was roughly 13%–19% higher in girls
Discussion
The main findings of this study show that (1) prevalence of MHO was 80% for overweight/obese and 70% for obese, being higher in girls than in boys; (2) after adjusting for potential covariates and using objective measures, sedentary time was higher in non-MHO adolescents with overweight/obesity than in their MHO peers; (3) MPA and MVPA were higher in MHO than in non-MHO, both in the group with overweight/obesity and only obesity; and (4) no consistent differences were found in health-related
Acknowledgments
The authors thank the children and adolescents who participated in the study and their parents and teachers for their collaboration. The authors also acknowledge the members involved in field work for their efforts. They thank Petra Pickert and Anke Carstensen for their contribution to laboratory work.
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Conflicts of Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.