Physical Activity Volume and Intensity for Healthy Body Mass Index and Cardiorespiratory Fitness: Enhancing the Translation of Children's and Adolescents' Accelerometer Physical Activity Reference Values

This secondary data analysis aimed to demonstrate the utility of physical activity (PA) wrist accelerometer outcome reference values by identifying the PA volume (average acceleration) and intensity distribution (intensity gradient) centiles and values associated with body mass index (BMI) status (normal weight, overweight, and obese) and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF, multistage shuttle runs test) status (low, moderate, and high) in children and adolescents. We assessed the dose–response associations between average acceleration and intensity gradient with BMI and CRF outcomes using restricted cubic spline linear mixed models. To aid translation of the findings, we calculated the increases in average acceleration needed to shift exemplar participants to “healthy” weight and CRF status. For boys and girls, there was a nonlinear inverse association between average acceleration and BMI. In both sexes, a positive dose–response was observed between average acceleration and intensity gradient with CRF. The values and centiles of average acceleration and intensity gradient that aligned with BMI and CRF statuses were identified. To move from an average acceleration associated with overweight to healthy weight, 10-year-old boys and girls would need to increase daily average acceleration by 23 mg (~30-min running) and 16 mg (~18-min running), respectively. These findings further demonstrate the importance of PA in relation to BMI and CRF and the utility of PA reference values for the translation of accelerometer outcomes into meaningful information. Additional studies demonstrating how PA reference values can be used to track behaviors and provide insights into health associations could inform practice further.