Abstract

The prevalence of obesity has steadily increased over the past several decades. About 13.4% of Americans aged 20-74 had obesity in 1960-1962 and the prevalence has steadily increased to 40.3% in 2021-2023--more than a 3-fold increase. PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between time spent in light physical activity (LPA) and 10-year weight change in a random sample of 2868 women and men representative of the U.S. adult population. METHODS: Data were used from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from the 2003-2006 data cycles. Participants were limited to non-pregnant U.S. adults ages 36-70 yrs. Physical activity was objectively assessed by NHANES with the ActiGraph AM-7164 accelerometer. Participants were instructed to wear the accelerometer on the right hip for 7 consecutive days, excluding water activities and sleep time. Body weight was measured in the NHANES mobile examination center. Subjects self-reported their body weight from 10 years prior. Weight change was calculated as the difference between one's current weight and one's weight from 10 years earlier. Minutes per day of LPA was divided into tertiles. Age, sex, race, home ownership, smoking, alcohol use, minutes engaged in moderate physical activity (MPA), minutes engaged in vigorous physical activity (VPA), strength training status, and time engaged in sedentary behavior (SB) were statistically controlled. RESULTS: On average, U.S. adults spent 349.2 min each day in LPA, 22.2 min in MPA, 0.9 min in VPA, and 486 min in SB. Mean (±SE) 10-yr weight gain was 6.4±0.4 kg. After controlling differences in the demographic covariates, adults with low levels of LPA gained 6.0 kg and those with moderate levels gained 6.1 kg, whereas those with high levels of LPA (upper one-third), gained 3.9 kg (F=5.6, P=0.0084) over the 10 yrs. With LPA and weight change both treated as continuous variables, the association was inverse and linear. For each additional 100 minutes of LPA, body weight was 1.0 kg lower. However, the association became borderline significant when SB was included as a covariate replacing MPA and VPA (F=3.4, P=0.0738). CONCLUSION: In the U.S., adults who engaged in the highest levels (upper one-third) of LPA gained significantly less weight over 10 years compared to those who spent less time in LPA. However, this relationship was weakened significantly after controlling for SB.

Degree

MS

College and Department

Life Sciences; Exercise Sciences

Rights

https://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/

Date Submitted

2025-12-12

Document Type

Thesis

Keywords

obesity, overweight, weight gain, BMI, MVPA

Language

english

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