Cardiorespiratory fitness, fatness, and cardiovascular disease risk factors in children and adolescents from Porto

Abstract

In the present study, we examined different categories of cardiorespiratory fitness and obesity and their relationship with risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) factors in youth. We hypothesized that youngsters with low cardiorespiratory fitness would be at greater risk of CVD risk factors, whether they are obese or not. This study was carried out as a part of a longitudinal research project conducted in the Porto and Braga districts, Portugal, with children and adolescents aged 10Á16 years of age. A total of 392 children (173 boys, 219 girls) participated in the study. We used a chi-square test to analyse the relationship between the participants' cardiorespiratory fitness and body weight (non-overweight or overweight/obese). For the purpose of this study, a new variable with four groups was created: non-overweight'unfit (37.4%), non-overweight'fit (35%), overweight/obese'unfit (11%) and overweight/obese'fit (10%). A one-way analysis of variance was used to compare the differences according to fitness and fatness groups. The main finding of this study was that regardless of fatness, participants with higher cardiorespiratory fitness presented with a lower prevalence of CVD risk factors.

Exposure to concomitant low health-related physical fitness components and associated sociodemographic factors in Brazilian adolescents

“…The prevalence of low physical fitness in terms of cardiorespiratory fitness was observed in a city in southern Brazil (68.0% of boys and 37.8% of girls) [9] and one in southeastern Brazil [15] in terms of body composition (24.1%), flexibility (40.8%), muscle strength/endurance (98.5%) and cardiorespiratory fitness (35.4%), although these studies adopted different classification criteria. The prevalence level found in this study was higher than those observed in Portuguese adolescents [4] for body composition and cardiorespiratory fitness components and lower than those found in Europeans adolescents [32] for cardiorespiratory fitness. The prevalence of adolescents with low physical fitness is alarming, given the risk of hypokinetic diseases such as obesity, which may arise already in childhood and early adolescence.…”

“…In relation to body composition, inadequate levels are less prevalent among rural adolescents [13]. However, a higher probability of featuring excess body fat has been observed in adolescents with higher socioeconomic status [14,15], a characteristic that has been observed in developing countries such as Brazil. Although there are some studies in international literature that were found to concomitantly analyze the components of health-related physical fitness in adolescents and its associated factors [1,4,5], most of them were limited by only concentrating on associations between excess body fat and low cardiopulmonary fitness [4,5]. In addition, these surveys were conducted on Portuguese [1,4] and American adolescents [5]; no Brazilian studies investigating the presence of the components of low health-related physical fitness and its associated factors were found.…”

“…Muscular fitness (power/muscular strength) has been inversely associated with death from all causes [3], and adequate cardiorespiratory fitness, regardless of body fat, has shown a lower prevalence of risk factors for cardiovascular disease [4,5]. In obese adolescents, low physical fitness has been associated with elevated symptoms of depression [6].…”

Relación del autoconcepto con la condición física y la composición corporal en una muestra de adolescentes

“…En él, se pone de manifiesto que valores del consumo máximo de oxígeno por encima de 51.6 ml·kg -1 ·min -1 en chicos y 42.2 ml·kg -1 ·min -1 en chicas supone un menor riesgo de padecer enfermedades cardiovasculares. Martins et al (2010) también encuentra evidencias, en una investigación con adolescentes portugueses, según las cuales un mayor rendimiento cardiovascular disminuye el riesgo de patologías cardiacas.…”

“…En él, se pone de manifiesto que valores del consumo máximo de oxígeno por encima de 51.6 ml·kg -1 ·min -1 en chicos y 42.2 ml·kg -1 ·min -1 en chicas supone un menor riesgo de padecer enfermedades cardiovasculares. Martins et al (2010) también encuentra evidencias, en una investigación con adolescentes portugueses, según las cuales un mayor rendimiento cardiovascular disminuye el riesgo de patologías cardiacas.Asimismo, un buen nivel de condición física está relacionado con beneficios sobre otras variables, como son las de tipo psicosocial o cognitivo. Por ejemplo, Chaddock et al (2012) señalan, en un estudio con niños norteamericanos, la importancia que posee la condición física en edades tempranas sobre el rendimiento cognitivo.…”