Clustering of 24-h movement behaviors associated with cardiorespiratory fitness among adolescents: a latent class analysis

This study aimed to examine the clustering of 24-h movement behaviors (moderate to vigorous physical activity, screen time, and sleep duration) and their association with cardiorespiratory fitness among adolescents. We evaluated 561 adolescents (52.1% girls; mean age, 13.0 ± 1.0 years) from Florianópolis, Brazil. A 20-m shuttle run was used to assess cardiorespiratory fitness, while a questionnaire was used to measure 24-h movement behaviors. A latent class analysis was performed to identify the clustering of 24-h movement behaviors, while linear Bayesian mixed-effect regression models were applied to identify their association with cardiorespiratory fitness. Two classes were identified: unhealthy (10.4%), characterized as a high probability of practicing less than 300 min/week of moderate to vigorous physical activity, spending more than 4 h/day in front of screens, and sleeping less than 8 h/day; and healthy (89.6%), characterized by a high probability of practicing more than 420 min/week of moderate to vigorous physical activity, spending less than 2 h/day in front of screens, and sleeping 8–10 h/day. Adolescents in the healthy class had a higher cardiorespiratory fitness level than those in the unhealthy class. Most adolescents were grouped in the healthy class and had higher cardiorespiratory fitness levels than those in the unhealthy class. These results suggest that families and professionals should work toward creating healthier lifestyles for adolescents by increasing opportunities to practice moderate to vigorous physical activity, reduce screen time, and favor healthy sleep to increase their cardiorespiratory fitness levels.