Physical fitness predicts adiposity longitudinal changes over childhood and adolescence

• Autor(a) principal: Rodrigues, Luis Paulo
• Data de Publicação: 2013
• Outros Autores: Leitão, Raquel, Lopes, Vitor P.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10198/8354

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of physical fitness (PF) on the development of subcutaneous adipose tissue in children followed longitudinally over a 9 year period ranging from childhood to adolescence. Design: This longitudinal study followed 518 healthy participants (262 boys, 256 girls) over a 9-year period ranging from childhood (age 6) to adolescence (age 15). Adiposity (triceps and subscapular skinfolds), and fitness (60 s sit-ups, flexed arm hang, standing long jump, 50mdash, 10mshuttle run, sit-and-reach, and 20mpacer run) were assessed at four annual time points during primary school, and on a follow up, 6 years later, during secondary school. Methods: Growth in subcutaneous fat was modeled within a HLM statistical framework, using fitness components as time changing predictors. Results: Flexed arm hang (ˇ =−0.059; p = 0.000), standing long jump (ˇ =−0.072; p = 0.000), 60 s sit-ups (ˇ =−0.041; p = 0.040), 50mdash (ˇ = 0.956; p = 0.000), and 20mPACER (ˇ =−0.077; p = 0.000) tests, were found to predict changes on body fat growth over the years, independently of sex. Conclusions: Improving PF individual levels can positively influence adiposity deposition over the time period covering childhood and adolescence. That occurs independently of the typical sex differentiated adiposity growth.