RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Cardiorespiratory fitness and ideal cardiovascular health in European adolescents
JF Heart
JO Heart
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and British Cardiovascular Society
SP 766
OP 773
DO 10.1136/heartjnl-2014-306750
VO 101
IS 10
A1 Ruiz, Jonatan R
A1 Huybrechts, Inge
A1 Cuenca-García, Magdalena
A1 Artero, Enrique G
A1 Labayen, Idoia
A1 Meirhaeghe, Aline
A1 Vicente-Rodriguez, German
A1 Polito, Angela
A1 Manios, Yannis
A1 González-Gross, Marcela
A1 Marcos, Ascensión
A1 Widhalm, Kurt
A1 Molnar, Denes
A1 Kafatos, Anthony
A1 Sjöström, Michael
A1 Moreno, Luis A
A1 Castillo, Manuel J
A1 Ortega, Francisco B
A1 ,
YR 2015
UL http://heart.bmj.com/content/101/10/766.abstract
AB Objective We studied in European adolescents (i) the association between cardiorespiratory fitness and ideal cardiovascular health as defined by the American Heart Association and (ii) whether there is a cardiorespiratory fitness threshold associated with a more favourable cardiovascular health profile. Methods Participants included 510 (n=259 girls) adolescents from 9 European countries. The 20 m shuttle run test was used to estimate cardiorespiratory fitness. Ideal cardiovascular health was defined as meeting ideal levels of the following components: four behaviours (smoking, body mass index, physical activity and diet) and three factors (total cholesterol, blood pressure and glucose). Results Higher levels of cardiorespiratory fitness were associated with a higher number of ideal cardiovascular health components in both boys and girls (both p for trend ≤0.001). Levels of cardiorespiratory fitness were significantly higher in adolescents meeting at least four ideal components (13% higher in boys, p<0.001; 6% higher in girls, p=0.008). Receiver operating characteristic curve analyses showed a significant discriminating accuracy of cardiorespiratory fitness in identifying the presence of at least four ideal cardiovascular health components (43.8 mL/kg/min in boys and 34.6 mL/kg/min in girls, both p<0.001). Conclusions The results suggest a hypothetical cardiorespiratory fitness level associated with a healthier cardiovascular profile in adolescents. The fitness standards could be used in schools as part of surveillance and/or screening systems to identify youth with poor health behaviours who might benefit from intervention programmes.