Reciprocal Longitudinal Relationship Between Fitness, Fatness, and Metabolic Syndrome in Brazilian Children and Adolescents: A 3-Year Longitudinal Study
in Pediatric Exercise SciencePurpose: To verify the reciprocal longitudinal relationships between cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), percentage body fat (%body fat), and metabolic syndrome in Brazilian primary school students. Method: This longitudinal study involved 420 children and adolescents followed for 3 years (2011–2014). The continuous Metabolic Syndrome (cMetSyn) score was calculated by summing adjusted z scores of glucose, systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio, triglycerides, and waist circumference. The CRF was assessed using running/walking tests, and %body fat was assessed through sex-specific 2-site skinfold thickness. Cross-lagged panel models were used to analyze longitudinal reciprocal relationships between CRF and %body fat with cMetSyn. Results: Results indicated that 2011 %body fat significantly predicted both 2014 CRF scores and 2014 cMetSyn scores (P < .001); however, 2011 CRF only predicted 2014 %body fat (P < .001) but not 2014 cMetSyn (P = .103). Furthermore, 2011 cMetSyn predicted 2014 %body fat (P = .002). The model explained 36%, 48%, and 37% of the variance in 2014 CRF, %body fat, and cMetSyn, respectively. Conclusion: The results suggest a reciprocal inverse relationship between %body fat and metabolic syndrome risk and that %body fat may play a more important role in the risk of developing metabolic syndrome compared with CRF.
Reuter, Brand, Silveira, Borba Schneiders, and Renner are with the Graduate Program in Health Promotion, University of Santa Cruz do Sul—UNISC, Santa Cruz do Sul, Brazil. Borfe is with the Graduate Program in Human Health Sciences, School of Physical Education, Physiotherapy and Dance, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil. Burns is with The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
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