ESPE Abstracts

Introduction: Inactivity in children is associated with cardiometabolic risk, while physical activity improves cardiometabolic health. We aimed to determine the association between epicardial fat (Efat), interventricular septal and left ventricular posterior wall thicknesses (IVSthickness and LVPWthickness) with physical activity/inactivity, non-sedentary/sedentary behavior, body composition, and cardio-metabolic parameters in children classified as being: inactive, sedentary physically active (S-PA), and non-sedentary physically active (NS-PA).

Methods: A total of 250 apparently healthy children (111 girls/139 boys; 9.1±1.9 years) were recruited in primary health centers in Girona and classified based on WHO criteria as being: 1) inactive: ≤1hour/day of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) (n=88); 2) S-PA: >1hour/day of MVPA and screen time ≥2hours/day (n=64); and 3) NS-PA (>1hour/day of MVPA and screen time <2hours/day) (n=86). BMI, waist circumference (WC), fat mass (FM) and systolic blood pressure (SBP) were assessed. Efat, visceral fat (Vfat), IVSthickness, LVPWthickness and carotid intima media thickness (cIMthickness) were measured by high-resolution ultrasound. Serum lipids, HOMA-IR, C-reactive protein, and high molecular weight (HMW) adiponectin were measured in fasting blood. Children’s parents answered the Physical Activity Questionnaire (enKid) to assess physical (in)activity as hours and metabolic equivalents (METs) and sedentary/non-sedentary behavior.

Results: Efat, IVSthickness and LVPWthickness were positively associated with BMI, WC, FM, Vfat, cIMthickness and C-reactive protein, while negatively associated with HDL cholesterol in all groups. In addition, in inactive children, Efat, IVSthickness and LVPWthickness were positively associated with SBP and HOMA-IR, while in NS-PA children they were negatively associated with HMW adiponectin and hours/METs of self-organized physical activity behavior (Playing alone+playing with others+physical activity). Interestingly, hours of coach-directed sports activities were negatively associated with Efat in SP-A children, while they were positively associated with IVSthickness and LVPWthickness in NS-PA children. All associations (P<0.05 to P<0.001) were maintained after multiple regression analyses correcting for age, sex, and BMI.

Conclusions: Higher Efat, IVSDthickness and LVPWthickness are associated with cardiometabolic risk markers in apparently healthy school-age children. Moreover, physical activity may have beneficial effects on cardiometabolic health, but it may fail to induce complete health benefits in inactive and sedentary physically active children. Interestingly, in sedentary physically active children, beneficial effects seem to be induced only by coach-directed sports activities. Finally, higher IVSthickness and LVPWthickness in non-sedentary physically active children could be more related to a physiological adaptation to the training specificity of the particular sport, rather than to a pathological change.