Abstract
Background
The purpose was to explore whether baseline sociodemographic and physical characteristics moderated effects of an intervention on moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), percent body fat, body mass index z-score, and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) at post intervention, relative to the control condition.
Methods
A secondary analysis of data from a group randomized trial including 24 schools (12 intervention and 12 control; N = 1519 girls) was conducted. Age, ethnicity, race, socioeconomic status, and pubertal stage were assessed via survey. Height, weight, MVPA (min/h), percent body fat, and CRF were measured. Mixed-effects linear models were performed.
Results
Compared to the control, the intervention increased overweight and obese girls’ CRF (b = 0.28, p = 0.049; b = 0.31, p < 0.01, respectively), but not healthy weight girls’ CRF (b = 0.04, p = 0.706). Pre- to mid-puberty girls in the intervention group had slightly lower post-intervention MVPA than those in the control (3.04 vs. 3.31, p = 0.055), while late to post-puberty intervention and control girls’ post-intervention MVPA was similar (3.12 vs. 3.04, p = 0.542).
Conclusions
A PA intervention can improve overweight and obese girls’ CRF, possibly attenuating their cardiovascular risk. Effective strategies are needed to assist adolescent girls, especially those in pre- to mid-puberty, in maintaining their MVPA after an intervention ends.
Impact
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Moderators of physical activity intervention effects among adolescent girls are important to identify because the effectiveness of these interventions to date in this population has been limited.
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This article contributes to the notable gap in knowledge regarding moderators in physical activity interventions involving adolescent girls, particularly baseline characteristics that may moderate their responses to physical activity interventions. Awareness of the moderators can be useful for determining the type of intervention that may be successful in subgroups of adolescent girls and for tailoring a physical activity intervention to optimally meet each girl’s needs to achieve maximal effects.
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Findings show that weight status moderated the intervention effects on cardiorespiratory fitness. Compared to the control condition, the intervention increased overweight and obese, but not healthy weight, girls’ cardiorespiratory fitness.
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A physical activity intervention can improve overweight and obese girls’ cardiorespiratory fitness, possibly attenuating their cardiovascular risk. Therefore, it is essential to include overweight and obese girls in PA interventions to help them reap this important benefit.
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Acknowledgements
The study was funded by a grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute at the National Institutes of Health (R01HL109101); PI: L.B.R. The contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of NIH. The authors thank the school administrators, teachers, nurses, and other staff members for their support. We acknowledge former Project Managers Stacey Wesolek and Kelly Bourne and former Intervention Coordinators Ann Kostin-McGill and Patrice Patrick-Banks for their assistance with managing the project. We are grateful to the undergraduate and graduate nursing and kinesiology students for helping us during various phases of the study. We appreciate the assistance received from Maria Cotts, an undergraduate nursing student, who reviewed and edited the references included in the manuscript. Finally, we thank the adolescent girls for their participation.
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L.B.R. conceptualized and designed the study, acquired the funding, assumed responsibility for project administration, assisted with acquisition and interpretation of the data, initially drafted the manuscript, critically revised and edited the manuscript, and approved the final version to be published. J.L. contributed to the acquisition, analysis, and interpretation of the data; the writing of the analysis and results; and the critical revision and editing of the manuscript; and approved the final version to be published. F.W. analyzed the data, assisted with interpretation of the data, contributed to the writing and revising of the analysis and results, and approved the final version to be published.
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Informed consent
Parents/guardians gave written consent for their adolescent child to participate in the study, and adolescents provided written assent.
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ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT01503333.
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Robbins, L.B., Ling, J. & Wen, F. Moderators in a physical activity intervention for adolescent girls. Pediatr Res 88, 810–817 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-020-0818-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-020-0818-5
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