Breaks in Sedentary Time and Cardiometabolic Markers in Adolescents

BACKGROUNDThe interruption of the time spent in sedentary behavior (breaks) has been associated with better levels of cardiometabolic indicators in the adult population, but in adolescents, further investigations are still needed to confirm these findings. OBJECTIVESTo analyze the association of the number of breaks per day in sedentary behaviors with cardiometabolic markers and whether it was moderated by nutritional status and excessive time on sedentary behavior in adolescents. METHODSThis is a cross-sectional study of 537 adolescents (52.3% girls), aged between 10 and 14 years, enrolled in public schools in the city of João Pessoa, Paraíba state, Brazil. The number of daily breaks (>100 counts/minutes) in sedentary time was measured by Actigraph GT3X+ accelerometers. The following cardiometabolic markers were analyzed: systolic and diastolic blood pressure (mmHg), fasting blood glucose levels, total cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL-c, LDL-c (all in mg/dL) and body mass index (BMI) (kg/m2). Linear regression was used to analyze the association between the number of breaks and cardiometabolic markers and whether this association was moderated by nutritional status and excessive time in sedentary behavior. The significance level of p