Physical activity patterns and estimated daily energy expenditures in normal and overweight Tunisian schoolchildren

Our aim was to test the normality of physical activity patternsand energy expenditures in normal weight and overweight primaryschool students. heart rate estimates of total daily energyexpenditure (tee), active energy expenditure (aee), and activitypatterns were made over 3 consecutive school days inhealthy middle-class tunisian children (46 boys, 44 girls, medianage (25th-75th) percentile, 9.2 (8.8-9.9) years. our crosssectionincluded 52 students with a normal body mass index(bmi) and 38 who exceeded age-specific bmi limits. tee, aeeand overall physical activity level (pal) were not differentbetween overweight children and those with a normal bmi[median values (25th-75th) 9.20 (8.20-9.84) vs. 8.88 (7.42-9.76)mj/d; 3.56 (2.59-4.22) vs. 3.85 (2.77-4.78) mj/d and 1.74 (1.54-2.04) vs. 1.89 (1.66-2.15) respectively]. physical activity intensities(pai) were expressed as percentages of the individual'sheart rate reserve (%hrr). the median pai for the entire day(pai24) and for the waking part of day (paiw) were lower inoverweight than in normal weight individuals [16.3 (14.2-18.9)vs. 20.6 (17.9-22.3) %hrr, p < 0.001) and 24.8 (21.6-28.9)vs.26.2 (24.5-30.8) %hrr, p < 0.01], respectively. overweightchildren allocated more of their day to sedentary pursuits [385(336-468) vs 297 (235-468) min/d, p < 0.001], and less time tomoderate physical activity [381(321-457) vs. 460 (380-534)min/d, p < 0.01]. nevertheless, because of the greater energycost of a given task, total and active daily energy expendituredid not differ from those with a normal bmi.