Association between Fitness, Different Indicators of Fatness, and Clustered Cardiovascular Diseases Risk Factors in Portuguese Children and Adolescents

OXYGEN UPTAKE AND INDICATORS OF OBESITY: META-ANALYSIS INCLUDING 17,604 ADOLESCENTS

ABSTRACT Introduction: Low aerobic fitness levels are associated with excess body adiposity in adolescents. However, studies that have analyzed this association in adolescents have used different methods and measures to evaluate aerobic fitness, making it difficult to compare the results. Objective: To conduct a systematic review with meta-analysis of studies that have analyzed the association between aerobic fitness and anthropometric body adiposity indicators in adolescents aged 10-19 years. Methods: A systematic search was performed in May 2016, updated in March 2017, in the following electronic databases: LILACS (BIREME), Embase, MEDLINE (PubMed), Web of Science (Web of Knowledge), Scopus, and SPORTDiscus. Results: Twenty-three studies were selected. The meta-analysis indicated that as the aerobic fitness levels increased, the BMI, waist circumference and body fat percentage values of the adolescents decreased. Conclusion: There is a negative association between aerobic fitness (evaluated by measuring maximum oxygen uptake in the 20-meter Shuttle Run test) and the body fat percentage, BMI and waist circumference of adolescents and a negative association between aerobic fitness (assessed by measuring the number of laps in the 20-meter Shuttle Run test) and body fat percentage. However, caution is required in the interpretation of data due to the heterogeneity of the studies analyzed. Level of Evidence II; Systematic review of studies with level II of evidence.

Cardio-Metabolic Risk Factors in Scottish South Asian and Caucasian Youth

(1) Background: Scotland has one of the highest rates of obesity in the Western World, it is well established that poor weight profiles, and particularly abdominal obesity, is strongly associated with Type II diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Whether these associations are apparent in ethnic population groups in Scotland is unclear. The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between different measures of fatness with clustered cardio metabolic risk factors between Scottish South Asian adolescents and Scottish Caucasian adolescents; (2) Methods: A sample of 208 Caucasian adolescents and 52 South Asian adolescents participated in this study. Stature, waist circumference, body mass index, blood pressure, physical activity, and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk were measured; (3) Results: Significant, partial correlations in the South Asian cohort between body mass index (BMI) and individual risk factors were generally moderate. However, correlations between Waist circumference (WC) and individual risk factors were significant and strong. In the Caucasian cohort, a significant yet weak correlation between WC and total cholesterol (TG) was noted although no other associations were evident for either WC or BMI. Multiple regression analysis revealed that both BMI and WC were positively associated with CCR (p < 0.01) in the South Asian group and with the additional adjustment of either WC or BMI, the independent associations with clustered cardio-metabolic risk (CCR) remained significant (p < 0.005); (4) Conclusions: No positive relationships were found between BMI, WC, and CCR in the Caucasian group. Strong and significant associations between measures of fatness and metabolic risk were evident in Scottish South Asian adolescents.