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Observational Study
. 2022 Jun 15;22(1):267.
doi: 10.1186/s12872-022-02704-8.

Body fat percentage, cardiorespiratory fitness and arterial blood pressure in children and adolescents: a longitudinal analysis

Caroline Brand  1 , Ana Paula Sehn  2 , Camila Felin Fochesatto  3 , João Francisco de Castro Silveira  2   3 , Jorge Mota  4 , David Martinez Gomez  5   6 , Anelise Reis Gaya  3 , Cézane Priscila Reuter  2 , Jane Dagmar Pollo Renner  2
Affiliations
Observational Study

Body fat percentage, cardiorespiratory fitness and arterial blood pressure in children and adolescents: a longitudinal analysis

Caroline Brand et al. BMC Cardiovasc Disord. .

Abstract

Background: A better understanding of how cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and adiposity interact to associate with arterial blood pressure over time remains inconclusive. Thus, the aim of the present study was to examine whether changes in CRF moderates the association between body fat percentage (BF%) and arterial blood pressure in children and adolescents.

Methods: This is an observational longitudinal study with 407 children and adolescents aged 8-17 years followed-up for three years from a city in Southern Brazil. Participants were evaluated in 2011 and 2014. CRF was measured by validated field-based tests following the Projeto Esporte Brazil protocols and peak oxygen uptake (VO2peak) was estimated. BF% was determined by the measures of tricipital and subscapular skinfolds using equations according to sex. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP, DBP) were measured with a sphygmomanometer according to standard procedures. Moderation analyses included multiple linear regression models adjusted for sex, age, pubertal status, height, socioeconomic level, skin color, and the arterial blood pressure variable itself at baseline.

Results: It was observed a significant inverse association between VO2peak at baseline with SBP (β = - 0.646 CI95% = - 0.976 - 0.316) and DBP (β = - 0.649 CI95% = - 0.923 - 0.375) at follow-up and a positive association between BF% at baseline with SBP (β = 0.274; CI95% = 0.094 0.455) and DBP (β = 0.301; CI95% = 0.150 0.453) at follow-up. In addition, results indicated a significant interaction term between changes in VO2peak and BF% at baseline with both SBP (p = 0.034) and DBP at follow-up (p = 0.011), indicating that an increase of at least 0.35 mL/kg/min and 1.78 mL/kg/min in VO2peak attenuated the positive relationship between BF% with SBP and DBP.

Conclusion: CRF moderates the relationship between BF% and SBP and DBP in children and adolescents.

Keywords: Adiposity; Diastolic blood pressure; Fitness; Systolic blood pressure; Youth.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Population and sample design flowchart
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Moderation of cardiorespiratory fitness in the relationship between percentage of body fat and systolic blood pressure (A) and diastolic blood pressure (B). All analyses were adjusted for sex, age, pubertal status, height, socioeconomic level, skin color and variable in baseline. VO2peak: Peak oxygen uptake; BF%: percentage of body fat; SBP: systolic blood pressure; DBP: diastolic blood pressure
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