Aim. The present review sought to examine the recent evidence on associations between objective physical activity determined by pedometer and adiposity.
Methodology. The search was conducted in Pubmed database in November 2013 (currently in update process). The period time was open as the pedometer usage is not a very old device and we wanted to include all the literature available. The searches by these terms resulted in 286 papers articles identified, from which after to fusion and eliminate duplicates, checking titles and abstracts and applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria 41 were included.
Results. Most studies (31/41; 76%) were crosssectional and all used proxies for adiposity, such as body mass index (BMI) or BMI z-score as the outcome measure. Few studies (7%; 3/41) focused on pre-school children. In all studies was measured BMI as a criterion of choice. In total 17% of studies (7/41) measured waist circumference, 15% (6/41) skinfolds and only 15% (6/41) of studies used the bioimpedance for measure % body fat. The studies reviewed here consistently reported significant and negative associations between pedometer-determined physical activity and adiposity (28/41; 68%), indicating ‘strong evidence’ that such an association exists with higher levels of habitual physical activity being associated with lower measures or indices of adiposity.
Conclusion. The present review supports the hypothesis that higher levels of habitual physical activity are protective against child and adolescent obesity. However, prospective longitudinal studies are warranted; there is a need for more research on younger children, and for more ‘dose-response’ evidence.
Corresponding author. marymiguelberges@hotmail.es
