Daily routine and leisure time behavior of obese children compared with their contemporaries Christine Graf 1 , Benjamin Koch 2 , Gisa Falkowski 1 , Birna Bjarnason-Wehrens 1 , Walter Tokarski 2 , Hildegard Christ 3 , Silke Coburger 3 , Walter Lehmacher 3 , Sigrid Dordel 4 , Hans Georg Predel 1 1 Institute of Cardiology and Sports Medicine of the German Sport University Cologne, Cologne, Germany 2 Institute of Medical Statistics, Informatics, and Epidemiology of the University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany 3 Institute for Leisure Studies of the German Sport University Cologne, Cologne, Germany 4 Institute of Sport Didactics of the German Sport University Cologne, Cologne, Germany Source of support: none. Summary Background: Childhood obesity is attributed to physical inactivity. The CHILT (Children’s Health Interventional Trial) project examined pupils of 12 intervention and 5 control schools to discover how obese chil- dren differed from their contemporaries regarding daily and physical activities. Material/Methods: Anthropometric data of 802 children (52.2% male, 47.8% female) were collected. Mean age was 8.5±0.5 years, height 132.9±6.2 cm, weight 30.3±6.9 kg, body mass index (BMI) 17.0±3.0 kg/m 2 . A standardized questionnaire was used to record daily activity and leisure activities. Results: Obese children tended to watch television for the longest period (p=0.066). Obese children ex- ercised fewer days per week with a higher intensity and were taken to school by car more often (p<0.05 for both variables). Conclusions: Obese children are less physically active and spend more time with sedentary activities. These find- ings underline the key messages of preventive measures: more physical activity and less inactivity, especially TV. Key words: obesity • children • physical activity • inactivity Full-text PDF: http://www.jpn-online.org/get_pdf.php?IDMAN=6276 Word count: XXXX Tables: 4 Figures: 2 References: 19 Author’s address: Dr. med. Dr. Sportwiss. Christine Graf, Institute for Cardiology and Sportmedicine, German Sports University, Carl-Diem-Weg 6, 50933 Cologne, Germany, e-mail: C.Graf@dshs-koeln.de Authors’ Contribution: A Study Design B Data Collection C Statistical Analysis D Data Interpretation E Manuscript Preparation F Literature Search G Funds Collection Received: 2004.08.18 Accepted: 2005.05.30 Published: 2005.XX.XX PD1 Clinical Pediatrics WWW. JPN-ONLINE.ORG J Ped Neonat, 2005; 2(3): PD PD