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Physical Activity and Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors in Schoolchildren

JosÈ Duarte

Jorge Mota

University of Porto, Portugaljmota{at}fcdef.up.pt

The aims of this study were (i) to provide descriptive data about variousCVD risk factors (triglycerides [TG], total cholesterol [TC], blood pressureand physical activity patterns) among schoolchildren in a specific sample; (ii) to document the extent to which physical activity is associated with variations in CVD risk factors among schoolchildren. The study comprised 474 children (242 males and 232 females, aged 8–13 years) selected in the Porto area of Portugal. The multiple regression analysis showed that the physical activity index is not associated with the variation in the biological risk factors in girls, while for boys a significant association was found for systolic blood pressure (R2 = .04, p= .05) and diastolic blood pressure (R2 = .03, p= .05). The present study shows that boys were significantly more active than girls, except for the young group (8–9 years old). However, except for SBP and DBP in males, no significant benefit from physical activity was related to the CVD risk factors evaluated. Since girls consistently reduce their levels of physical activity, some further attention should be given to this matter, mainly in the context of physical activity at school.

Key Words: blood pressure • children • cholesterol • gender • physical activity

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