Lipid Profile of Youth Sport Climbers: A Preliminary Investigation

Abstract

Introduction. Lipid profile is one of the main determinants of cardiovascular health status. Moderate and vigorous physical activity can positively influence lipid profile, and one such activity is sport climbing. The main aim of this study was to determine the lipid profile and to investigate the influence of training experience on the lipid profile of youth climbers. Material and Methods. This research included 12 youth climbers aged 15.33 ± 1.30 years (6 males, 6 females), who were tested on anthropo-metric indices and lipid profile (total cholesterol, high-density lipoproteins, low-density lipoproteins, triglycerides) using the point-of-care testing. Variables of lipid profile were correlated with years of climbing experience by Spearman’s rank correlation coefficients, while the differences between females and males were checked by the Mann-Whitney U test. Results. Youth climbers had acceptable levels of all measured lipid parameters. Training experience was significantly positively correlated with body mass index (R = 0.76, p < 0.01) and significantly negatively correlated with cholesterol (R = -0.80, p < 0.01). Conclusions. Results support that climbing as a vigorous and enjoyable physical activity might be advertised as a proxy for reaching recommended amounts of physical activity among adolescents, which is associated with improved lipid profile. However, this is only a preliminary investigation advocating that determinants of health status related to climbing practice should be further investigated.