Students’ continuous metabolic risk score with different levels of cardiorespiratory fitness

Abstract

Objective: To compare the metabolic risk score in schoolchildren with different levels of cardiorespiratory fitness.

Method: A cross - sectional, retrospective study carried out with schoolchildren in the municipality of Santa Cruz do Sul (Brazil). Students from 25 public and private schools in the municipality were invited, who were aged between 7 and 17 years with an authorization signed by parents / guardians. The final sample consisted of 1250 children and adolescents. Blood sampling was performed to analyze the lipid profile. Blood pressure, waist circumference and cardiorespiratory fitness were evaluated. The metabolic risk score was calculated by summing the Z score of the following parameters: waist circumference, systolic blood pressure, triglycerides, total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and HDL cholesterol. The data were expressed continuously, and the higher the metabolic risk score, the greater the metabolic risk.

Results: In both sexes, a decrease of metabolic risk score was observed with the increase of the cardiorespiratory fitness. Thus, schoolchildren in the 5th quintile, who have higher levels of cardiorespiratory fitness, have lower metabolic risk. Among the boys, there was a significant difference between the 1st quintile and the 2nd quintile (p = 0.037), 4th (p = 0.009) and 5th quintile of the cardiorespiratory fitness (p <0.001), with a mean difference of 0.56 for the latter. Among girls, metabolic risk score was significantly different in the comparison of the first quintile of the cardiorespiratory fitness to the fifth quintile (p = 0.018).

Conclusion: Schoolchildren with low cardiorespiratory fitness have higher metabolic risk scores, both among boys and girls.