Developmental Trajectory of Physical Activity and its Relationship to Rate of Gain in Weight, Subcutaneous Fat, and Motor Skill Development during the First Six Months of Life.

Physical Activity;Infancy;Growth and Development;Kinesiology and Sports;Health Sciences;Kinesiology

Hauck, Janet LynnUlrich, Beverly D. ;

University of Michigan

关键词: Physical Activity;    Infancy;    Growth and Development;    Kinesiology and Sports;    Health Sciences;    Kinesiology;   

Others  :  https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/96146/jhauck_1.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

瑞士|英语

来源: The Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship

【 摘 要 】

The purpose of this dissertation is to first establish the developmental trajectory of physical activity (PA) and use of infant positioning devices (IPD) during infancy and determine if there is a relationship between amount of PA and IPD use to rate of gain in weight, subcutaneous fat, and motor skill development in the first six months of life.Literature highlighting the significance of infant obesity and potential causal links is substantial.There is controversy surrounding many of the proposed contributing factors to infant obesity including the nature of their association as well as their general sensitivity to impacting obesity.Twenty-eight infants participated in this longitudinal study from one to six months of age.During that time, we monitored infant weight, length, ponderal index, subcutaneous fat, motor skill development, objective PA, and use of IPDs.The developmental trajectory of PA in infancy follows a positive linear trend of increased PA as the infant ages with the most dramatic rise in PA occurring during the first three months of life.The trajectory of use of IPD does vary from month to month with use of more types of devices as the infant ages and decreased frequency of use of those devices from one to six months of age.We found an emerging trend of increased motor skill development among more physically active infants, including earlier onset of age for supine reach, extended arms in prone position, whole hand grasp, supine to prone roll, and independent sitting.This trend was also observable in infants with greater use of IPDs.We did not find a significant trend of ponderal index and subcutaneous fat relating to amount of PA or time spent in an IPD; however an observable trend emerged with less physically active infants gaining weight more rapidly in the first few months.A comprehensive developmental study of this kind is the first to examine PA during the first six months in life.This knowledge represents the first step in developing effective preventative interventions that can be implemented during infancy in order to prevent lifelong battles with obesity and associated co-morbidities.