Cardiovascular responses to submaximal exercise in 7- to 9-yr-old boys and girls

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether differences exist between boys and girls in submaximal cardiovascular responses to exercise on both the treadmill and cycle ergometer. Twenty-four (12 boys and 12 girls) 7- to 9-yr-old children participated in two maximal (one treadmill and one cycle) and four submaximal tests (two treadmill and two cycle). There were no significant differences between the boys and girls in maximal oxygen consumption (L.min-1 or mL.kg-1.min-1) or physical characteristics except for a significantly larger left ventricular mass in the boys versus the girls (78.8 vs 66.0 g, respectively). Submaximal cardiovascular variables were measured at three different work rates on both exercise modalities. Oxygen consumption at the different work rates was not different between boys and girls on either exercise modality. The trend was for heart rate to be lower and stroke volume higher in boys versus girls, but this difference was only significant for heart rate at 4 miles.h-1 (142.9 vs 155.5 beats.min-1, respectively). It is concluded that in this sample of 7- to 9-yr-old boys and girls there are few significant differences in submaximal cardiovascular responses to exercise on either exercise modality.

Metabolic and Physiologic Responses to Video Game Play in 7- to 10-Year-Old Boys

“…In addition, SBP, DBP, and HR in the present study increased to approximately the same level shown for cycling at a work rate of 60 W or walking at 3 mph in boys of similar age and body composition. 20 In contrast, the VO 2 values observed in this study were much lower than those for cycling at 60 W or walking at 3 mph. Based on VO 2 and MET levels, the intensity of video game play is less than moderate.…”

Six minutes walk test outcome measures in children

“…Delay in HR recovery implies impaired activity of the parasympathetic component of the autonomic nervous system and thus a relative sympathetic dominance. 15,16 In the present study, HR recovered at 5 min. in both genders, which is contradicting to the previous studies where heart rate recovery was reported at 1 min.…”

Influence of Body Composition, Hemoglobin Concentration, and Cardiac Size and Function of Gender Differences in Maximal Oxygen Uptake in Prepubertal Children

“…[2][3][4][5] In prepubertal children, results in the literature are much more controversial than in adults. When body size is taken into account, few studies reported similar V o 2 max in boys and girls 6 ; however, V o 2 max was reported as being lower in the latter. [7][8][9] A difference in body composition and especially in body fat mass content could explain these results.…”

“…According to the Fick equation, gender differences must be explained by variance in heart rate (HR), stroke volume (SV), and arteriovenous oxygen difference (DAVO 2 ). Cardiac output (Q ) at a given submaximal work rate has been reported to be higher, 11 lower, 12 or the same 6,13 in boys compared to girls. Most literature studies reported that SV was higher and HR was lower in boys than in girls at a given absolute submaximal rate.…”

“…At maximal exercise, only SV differentiated boys from girls. 6,9 Such a gender effect was attributed by certain authors to a higher left ventricular mass (LVM) in boys, 6 whereas others 9 did not observe any difference in resting echocardiographic measures. To the best of our knowledge, only Rowland et al 9 focused on the impact of cardiac function and size as well as body composition on the gender-related difference in V o 2 max in children.…”