Controversies in the association of cardiorespiratory fitness and arterial stiffness in children and adolescents

Abstract

The relationship between cardiorespiratory fitness and arterial compliance in children and adolescents remains controversial. The aim of this study was to assess this association with a quantitative approach. A total of 646 healthy children and adolescents (316 females, age 13.9±2.1 years) were cross-sectionally investigated in seven school settings in and around Munich for their cardiorespiratory fitness and demographic, anthropometric and hemodynamic parameters. Surrogates of arterial stiffness, such as pulse wave velocity (PWV), Augmentation Index normalized to a heart rate of 75 (AI@75), and peripheral and central systolic blood pressures were measured in a supine position using the oscillometric Mobil-O-Graph. Cardiopulmonary fitness was measured by 6-min indoor run tests. After correction for age, sex, body weight, body height, heart rate and mean arterial pressure, controversial findings were produced. PWV increased with higher cardiorespiratory fitness (Beta=0.173; P<0.001), which represented an unfavorable relationship, whereas AI@75 declined with higher cardiorespiratory fitness (Beta=-0.106; P=0.025). Therefore, in contrast to PWV, higher cardiorespiratory fitness seems beneficial for AI@75. The third surrogate of arterial stiffness, central systolic blood pressure, showed no association with cardiorespiratory fitness (Beta=0.066; P=0.052). These controversial outcomes remain almost unchanged when the boys and girls were analyzed separately. Different surrogates of arterial stiffness have different relationships with cardiorespiratory fitness in children and adolescents after correcting for multiple confounders. More research is needed in this field to understand the functioning of the juvenile vessels, and measurements and methodological approaches should be reconsidered.

Primary Prevention: No Associations of Strength and Cardiorespiratory Fitness Status With Arterial Stiffness in Young School Children

“…As far as cardiorespiratory fitness parameters are concerned, we could not demonstrate that VO 2max was associated with stiffness parameters. Compared to the computed VO 2max values, the amount of shuttle run rounds were positively associated with PWV and CSBP in the whole study group, The results share similarities with Meyer et al who studied surrogates of arterial stiffness in n = 646 German adolescents (age 13.9 ± 2.1 years) with the Mobil-O-Graph (9). In their cohort PWV was also positively associated with CRF, whereas CSBP showed no association.…”

“…Studies in children (9,10) have examined the relationship between cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and arterial distensibility. Besides the positive effects of healthy CRF (11), literature also demonstrated that resistance training may be effective for improving vascular health in adults and adolescents (12)(13)(14).…”

Remote Ischemic Preconditioning Has No Short Term Effect on Blood Pressure, Heart Rate, and Arterial Stiffness in Healthy Young Adults

“…Blood pressure and arterial stiffness were automatically measured on the left upper arm with the oscillometric cuff-based Mobil-O-Graph device in a supine position after 5 min rest. Cuffs were chosen according to the circumference of the left upper arm (Elmenhorst et al, 2014; Meyer et al, 2017).…”

Vascular Structure and Function in Children and Adolescents: What Impact Do Physical Activity, Health-Related Physical Fitness, and Exercise Have?

“…Two studies investigated the associations between carotid distensibility and CRF; only Ried-Larsen et al (37) reported a positive relationship (36,37). Two of the three studies documented a positive association between carotid arterial compliance and CRF (21,37,48), while aortic AI@75 (the AI at a standardized heart rate of 75 beats per minute) was inversely associated with CRF (47).…”