Health perceptions, leisure time physical activity, meal frequency and body mass index in Portuguese male adolescents

Objective: The aims of this study were (i) to investigate the association of leisure time physical activity (LTPA), meal frequency (MF), and health perception (HP) with weight status and (ii) to analyze how the aggregation of different adverse behaviours is associated with weight status in a sample of Portuguese male adolescents. Design: The sample comprised 522 boys aged 13 to17 years old from one public secondary school in the North of Portugal. Weight and height were objectively measured. Overweight and obesity were defined according to age-and sex-specific body mass index cut-points. MF, PA and HP were assessed using questionnaires. Results: 18.4% of the participants were overweight/obese (OV/OB). A logistic regression analysis showed that those who ate fewer than four meals daily were at increased risk for being OV/OB (OR: 2.26; p<0.05). Non-active participants (OR: 1.99; p 0.05) and those with poor HP (OR: 2.61; p<0.05) were also more likely to be classified as OV/OB. The odds of being OV/OB increased as the number of aggregated risk factors increased (p<0.001). Conclusion: Our findings suggest that meal frequency, health perception, leisure time physical activity and behavioural aggregation of these risk factors are associated with overweight/obesity (OV/OB) in Portuguese male adolescents. However, the direction of this relation cannot be established due to the cross-sectional nature of our study, and therefore it is also possible that some of these factors could likely be consequences of OV/OB. Future studies in Portuguese adolescents are necessary to better understand the relations between weight status and other health behaviours.