Relationship of fitness, fatness, and coronary-heart-disease risk factors in 12- to 13-year-olds

  • Non Eleri Thomas*
  • , Stephen Mark Cooper
  • , Simon P. Williams
  • , Julien S. Baker
  • , Bruce Davies
  • *Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

31 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine relationships between aerobic fitness (AF), fatness, and coronary-heart-disease (CHD) risk factors in 12- to 13-yearolds. The data were obtained from 208 schoolchildren (100 boys; 108 girls) ages 12.9 ± 0.3 years. Measurements included AF, indices of obesity, blood pressure, blood lipids and lipoproteins, fibrinogen, homocysteine, and C-reactive protein. An inverse relationship was found between AF and fatness (p ≤ .05). Fatness was related to a greater number of CHD risk factors than fitness was (p ≤ .05). Further analysis revealed fatness to be an independent predictor of triglyceride and blood-pressure levels (p ≤ .05). Our findings indicate that, for young people, fatness rather than fitness is independently related to CHD risk factors.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)93-101
Number of pages9
JournalPediatric Exercise Science
Volume19
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Feb 2007

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

  1. SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
    SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being

Keywords

  • Aerobic fitness
  • CHD
  • Young people

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