Resemblance in Physical Activity in Families with Children in Time Segments during the Week: The Lolland-Falster Health Study

Purpose Evidence of shared physical activity (PA) habits within families is inconsistent. The present study aimed at examining intrafamily resemblance in PA during different time segments of the week. Method This cross-sectional study used data from the Danish household-based population study Lolland–Falster Health Study. We assessed time spent in various PA intensities and behaviors using a dual-accelerometer system (Axivity AX3). At least one parent and one child per household provided data for a minimum of three weekdays and one weekend day. We analyzed three time segments: early weekdays, late weekdays, and weekends. A linear mixed model regression analysis was used to estimate intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) of the total family, parent–child dyads, siblings, and parent–parent dyads for PA outcomes, adjusting for sex, age, parental education, and the interaction between sex and age. Results We included 774 parents (57.9% female, 42.8 ± 7 yr) and 802 children (54.2% girls, 11.1 ± 4.3 yr) nested within 523 families. The clustering among the total family was stronger during late weekdays (ICC = 0.11–0.31) and weekends (ICC = 0.14–0.29) than during early weekdays (ICC = 0.02–0.19). We found stronger clustering among siblings (ICC = 0.08–0.47) and between parents (ICC = 0.02–0.52) than between parents and children (ICC < 0.01–0.37). Generally, the clustering was strongest for light PA, and among PA behaviors, walking showed the highest resemblance across all subgroups. Conclusion Initiatives to promote children’s PA that involve parent or sibling coparticipation may focus on the time segment and activity types with the highest resemblance. For the family as a whole, promoting walking or limiting sedentary activities may be a potential target for interventions during late weekdays and weekends. Trial registration: Clinicaltrials.gov (NCT02482896)

Detailed descriptions of physical activity patterns among individuals with prediabetes and diabetes: The Lolland-Falster Health Study

Despite the importance of physical activity for type 2 diabetes, it is largely unknown to what extent physical activity patterns vary among individuals with prediabetes and diabetes. Recent developments of technological wearable devices provide new possibilities to describe detailed patterns of physical activity, physical postures, sleep characteristics, and other physiological factors over long time periods. The second-by-second continuous assessment offer many opportunities to advance research also among individuals with diabetes and other chronic conditions. No previous large-scale studies have provided a detailed description of objectively assessed habitual physical activity patterns among individuals with prediabetes and diabetes. Availability of such information would be an important resource for planning future treatment courses taking individual characteristics, needs, and preferences into account when designing a physical activity intervention. Therefore, the overall aim of this study is to describe physical activity behaviors and patterns among individuals with prediabetes and diabetes and compare these patterns with individuals with no known diabetes

Detailed descriptions of physical activity patterns among individuals with diabetes and prediabetes: the Lolland-Falster Health Study

Introduction This study aimed to describe objectively measured physical activity patterns, including daily activity according to day type (weekdays and weekend days) and the four seasons, frequency, distribution, and timing of engagement in activity during the day in individuals with diabetes and prediabetes and compared with individuals with no diabetes.Research design and methods This cross-sectional study included data from the Danish household-based, mixed rural-provincial population study, The Lolland-Falster Health Study from 2016 to 2020. Participants were categorized into diabetes, prediabetes, and no diabetes based on their glycated hemoglobin level and self-reported use of diabetes medication. Outcome was physical activity in terms of intensity (time spent in sedentary, light, moderate, vigorous, and moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) intensities), adherence to recommendations, frequency and distribution of highly inactive days (&lt;5 min MVPA/day), and timing of engagement in activity assessed with a lower-back worn accelerometer.Results Among 3157 participants, 181 (5.7 %) had diabetes and 568 (18.0 %) had prediabetes. Of participants with diabetes, 63.2% did not adhere to the WHO recommendations of weekly MVPA, while numbers of participants with prediabetes and participants with no diabetes were 59.5% and 49.6%, respectively. Around a third of participants with diabetes were highly inactive daily (&lt;5 min MVPA/day) and had &gt;2 consecutive days of inactivity during a 7-days period. Mean time spent physically active at any intensity (light, moderate, and vigorous) during a day was lower among participants with diabetes compared with participants with no diabetes and particularly from 12:00 to 15:00 (mean difference of −6.3 min MVPA (95% CI −10.2 to −2.4)). Following adjustments, significant differences in physical activity persisted between diabetes versus no diabetes, but between participants with prediabetes versus no diabetes, results were non-significant after adjusting for body mass index.Conclusions Inactivity was highly prevalent among individuals with diabetes and prediabetes, and distinct daily activity patterns surfaced when comparing these groups with those having no diabetes. This highlights a need to optimize current diabetes treatment and prevention to accommodate the large differences in activity engagement