The Clustering of Low Diet Quality, Low Physical Fitness, and Unhealthy Sleep Pattern and Its Association with Changes in Cardiometabolic Risk Factors in Children

• Main Authors: Xianwen Shang, Yanping Li, Haiquan Xu, Qian Zhang, Ailing Liu, Guansheng Ma
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-02-01
• Series: Nutrients
• Subjects: diet quality; sleep; cardiorespiratory fitness; clustering; cardiometabolic risk factors; children
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/12/2/591

The clustering of diet quality, physical activity, and sleep and its association with cardiometabolic risk (CMR) factors remains to be explored. We included 5315 children aged 6&#8722;13 years in the analysis. CMR score (CMRS) was computed by summing <i>Z</i>-scores of waist circumference, an average of systolic and diastolic blood pressure, fasting glucose, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (multiplying by &#8722;1), and triglycerides. Low diet quality and low cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) were more likely to be seen in a pair, but low diet quality was less likely to be clustered with unhealthy sleep patterns. Low diet quality, low CRF, and unhealthy sleep pattern was associated with a 0.63, 0.53, and 0.25 standard deviation (SD) higher increase in CMRS, respectively. Compared to children with no unhealthy factor (&#8722;0.79 SD), those with &#8805;1 unhealthy factor had a higher increase (&#8722;0.20 to 0.59 SD) in CMRS. A low diet quality-unhealthy sleep pattern resulted in the highest increase in CMRS, blood pressure, and triglycerides. A low diet quality&#8722;low CRF-unhealthy sleep pattern resulted in the highest increase in fatness and fasting glucose. Unhealthy factor cluster patterns are complex; however, their positive associations with changes in CMR factors are consistently significant in children. Some specific patterns are more harmful than others for cardiometabolic health.