{"doi":"10.26153/tsw/64058","title":"Multi-method exploration of associations among 24-hour movement behaviors, body mass index, and neurodevelopment in Mexican preschoolers","abstract":"Background: Movement behaviors – physical activity, sedentary behavior, and sleep – are key for understanding health in children. Time spent across behaviors may affect nutritional status and neurodevelopment given each behavior has distinct metabolic effects that affect body composition and the nervous system. The differential effect of different physical activity intensities and other movement behaviors remains understudied in children from low- and middle-income countries facing the double burden of disease. Furthermore, the combination and comparison of multiple methodologies to analyze these data for informing interventions and future research is underutilized. Purpose: This study examines the associations of 24-hour movement behaviors with neurodevelopment in a sample of Mexican preschoolers using traditional regression approaches, isotemporal substitution modeling (ISM), and machine learning. Associations with body mass index (BMI) and mediation by BMI in the aforementioned pathway are also explored. Methods: Children in the Mexican pilot of the International Study of Movement Behaviors in the Early Years (SUNRISE) (n = 64, age = 4.36 ± 0.42 years, 48% female) wore an accelerometer for ten 24-hour periods to assess time in light, moderate, and vigorous physical activity; sedentary behavior; and sleep. Multiple linear regression was used to analyze the association of movement behaviors with neurodevelopment and BMI. ISM was used to model the reallocation of 10 minutes from each behavior to another account for the existence of time-use tradeoffs in behaviors. Finally, agglomerative clustering was applied to extract participant profiles that can provide context for future intervention. Models adjusted for age, sex, rurality/urbanicity, and household socioeconomic status. Results: Neither regression nor ISM showed a significant association of movement behaviors with BMI. Adjusted models showed a negative association of sedentary behavior with working memory (β = -0.3, p = 0.03) and a positive association for vigorous activity (β = 0.3, p = 0.04). Sedentary behavior was also negatively associated with impulse control (β = -0.3, p = 0.03). Moderate and vigorous activity were associated with hand dexterity (β = 0.2, p = 0.04; β = 0.2, p = 0.04). ISM only showed one significant association: reallocating 10 minutes of light activity to vigorous was positively associated with working memory (β = 0.3, p = 0.02). The clustering algorithm identified a subgroup of low socioeconomic status participants at risk for undernutrition who had poor working memory performance despite high average vigorous activity. Conclusion: This exploratory study suggests higher intensities of physical activity may be important for neurodevelopment, specifically for working memory regarding vigorous physical activity, although some individuals facing health inequities may not be experiencing these benefits. Future studies should confirm these findings longitudinally and experimentally. In addition, combined analytic methods may yield different results, though this information may be useful for contextualizing findings for intervention and future research.","journal":"Open MIND","year":2025,"id":588086,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":0,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9618,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2025-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1504442,"name":"Christian Javier Corral","orcid":null,"position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":0,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T02:59:43.096742Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}