Cardiorespiratory fitness relating more strongly than physical activity to cardiovascular disease risk factors in healthy European children ans adolescents
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In adults, exercise levels and cardiorespiratory fitness are related to cardiovascular risk factors. The study was aimed to increase our understanding of the complex relationships between physical activity, cardiorespiratory fitness and cardiovascular risk factors in later life. For this study, physical activity and cardiovascular fitness were assessed in healthy children and adolescents during a school year in Sweden and Estonia (295 girls and 295 boys aged 9-10 years and 302 girls and 233 boys aged 15-16 years). Physical activity was measured by accelerometry and cardiorespiratory fitness was estimated using a maximal ergometer bike test; cardiovascular risk factors such as blood pressure and fasting levels of insulin, glucose, triglycerides, total cholesterol and HDL cholesterol were also determined. Canonical correlations between physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness versus cardiovascular risk factors showed significant associations in both age and sex groups (P<0.0001), cardiovascular fitness being the strongest contributor to these relationships. Cardiorespiratory fitness related more strongly to cardiovascular risk factors than components of physical activity in children and adolescents. In girls, high values of physical activity variables were also associated with a favourable cardiovascular profile.
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