Euan Woodward
Background: Adolescent overweight and obesity are major global health concerns, as health during adolescence can strongly infuence health outcomes in adulthood. Te aim of this study was to evaluate the associations between selected lifestyle factors and overweight or obesity among Lithuanian schoolchildren aged 11–18 years. Methods: Tis cross-sectional study was conducted between November 2019 and March 2020 and included 1,345 schoolchildren aged 11–18 years from schools in the Kaunas district of Lithuania. All participants underwent anthropometric measurements, and body mass index (BMI) was assessed according to the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) criteria for adolescents. Age-specifc recommended sleep durations were defned based on the consensus statement of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Participants completed questionnaires assessing sleep duration, computer use, physical activity, and family smoking. Adjusted odds ratios (aORs) with 95% confdence intervals (CIs) were estimated using multivariate logistic regression models. A p-value of < 0.05 was considered statistically signifcant. Results: Te prevalence of overweight, and obesity was 16.2% and 5.6% (among boys: 18.9% and 7.5% and among girls was 13.3% and 3.4%), respectively. In the total sample, afer adjustment for sex and age, schoolchildren with insufcient sleep duration on weekends had higher odds of overweight/obesity (aOR=1.75; 95% CI, 1.15-2.64 (P=0.009)) compared with those who slept the recommended number of hours; however, insufcient sleep on weekdays was not associated with higher BMI. In adolescents, lower levels of physical activity (quite active and not very active/not at all active) were signifcantly associated with increased odds of overweight/obesity compared with being ‘very active’ (aOR=1.50; 95% CI, 1.10-2.04 (P=0.010) and aOR=2.18; 95% CI, 1.53-3.11 (P<0.001)), respectively. Family smoking was signifcantly associated with adolescents with overweight/obesity (aOR=1.48; 95% CI, 1.13-1.93 (P=0.004)). Participants who used a computer for ≥2 hours per day had a tendency toward a higher odd of having overweight/obesity than those who used it for <2 hours per day. Conclusions: Unhealthy lifestyle behaviours — including insufcient sleep duration on weekends, physical inactivity, and exposure to family smoking — were signifcantly associated with overweight or obesity among Lithuanian adolescents.