The relationship of body fat indicators with cardiovascular risk in adolescents with low socioeconomic status

• Published in: Journal of exercise physiology online Vol. 15; no. 3; pp. 19 - 29
• Main Authors: Carvalho, Ferdinando Oliveira, de Oliveira, William Alves, Carneiro, Marcos Vinicius Oliveira, de Moraes, Jose Fernando Vila Nova, Moreira, Sergio Rodrigues, Campbell, Carmen Silvia Grubert
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Society of Exercise Physiologists 01-06-2012
• Subjects: Adipose tissues; Adolescence; Adolescents; Analysis; Blood pressure; Body mass; Cardiorespiratory; Cardiovascular diseases; Computer programs; Diseases; Exercise physiology; Health aspects; Hypertension; Physiological aspects; Physiology; Risk factors; Sex; Socially handicapped teenagers; Socially handicapped youth; Socioeconomic factors; Socioeconomics; Statistics; Brazil, Distrito Federal
• ISSN: 1097-9751; 1097-9751

Carvalho FO, Oliveira WA, Carneiro MVO, Moraes JFVN, Moreira SR, Campbell CSG. The Relationship of Body Fat Indicators with Cardiovascular Risk in Adolescents with Low Socioeconomic Status. JEPonline 2012; 14(3):19-29. Increased body fat is considered an independent risk factor in developing cardiovascular diseases, especially systemic arterial hypertension (SAH). However, little is known about this subject in the adolescent population of low socioeconomic status. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare the blood pressure (BP) values in adolescents of low socioeconomic status with different relative body fat and verify if an increased waist circumference (WC) is associated with cardiovascular risk. The subjects consisted of 149 adolescents (85 boys and 64 girls) aged 11 to 16 from the city of Ceilandia, Distrito Federal, Brazil. Body mass, stature, and skinfold thickness were measured to estimate body fat percentage (BF%). Shapiro-Wilk's Test confirmed the normality of data and descriptive statistics were performed to characterize the sample. Comparison between body fat and sex was performed through a one-way ANOVA with Scheffe's post-hoc. WC above average was considered when the volunteer presented a value above the 90th percentile of the sample with the same sex. Statistical significance was set at P=0.05 and the software used for data analysis was the SPSS v.13.0. Results showed that for both sexes the adolescents with high and average BF% presented higher BP when compared to the subjects with low BF%. High BF% adolescents also presented higher BP when compared to the subjects with average BF%. Lastly, an association between increased WC and BP was found. Therefore, we concluded that body fat indicators (BF% and WC) presented significant associations with BP in adolescents of both sexes with low socioeconomic status. Key Words: Blood Pressure, Low Socioeconomic Status, Waist Circumference