Relationship Between Body Composition, Cardiorespiratory Fitness, And Blood Pressure Following Clinical Practice Guidelines In Children

PURPOSE: To examine the association between selected body composition, cardiorespiratory fitness, and blood pressure categories using the 2017 AAP and Fourth Report clinical practice guidelines in children. METHODS: Descriptive cross-sectional study of 1754 (boys = 630; 35.9% and girls = 1124; 64.1%) aged between 9 and 18 years in Ado-Ekiti, Southwest Nigeria participated in the study. Anthropometry, physiological, and aerobic capacity parameters were determined using the standard protocols of ISAK, ACSM, and multistage fitness test (20-meter shuttle run), respectively. Regression analyses were performed to examine the association of selected body composition, aerobic capacity, and blood pressure categories. All p-values were set at ≤0.05. RESULTS: Mean triceps skinfold, subscapular skinfold, body fat percentage, upper arm relaxed, hip circumference, systolic and diastolic blood pressure were significantly higher among boys compared to girls (p < 0.001). Furthermore, the number of shuttle runs and predicted VO2max was significantly higher in girls compared to boys (p < 0.001). Based on the AAP guidelines for systolic blood pressure, the results showed that being a male child and hypotensive is associated with a higher significant reduction in subscapular skinfold (OR = 0.708; CI = 0.526, 0.952; p = 0.022), upper arm relaxed (OR = 0.802; CI = 0.730, 0.882; P < 0.000), and VO2max (OR = 0.737; CI = 0.609, 0.892; p = 0.002) as compared to female gender (where gender is coded as one for male and two for female). Elevated wise, the results showed that being a male is associated with a higher significant increase in upper arm relaxed (OR = 1.156; CI = 1.048, 1.274; P = 0.004) and VO2max (OR = 1.644; CI = 1.334, 2.025; p < 0.000) while boys in the hypertension category have a higher likelihood of having a higher value for upper arm relaxed (OR = 1.183; CI = 1.069, 1.310; p = 0.001) as compared to girls. The same trend of association in AAP guidelines was observed in the Fourth Report protocol. CONCLUSIONS: There was a significant association between selected body composition, aerobic capacity, and blood pressure categories. The findings suggest that blood pressure categories could be influenced by body composition and aerobic capacity. The findings highlight the necessity to scale up obesity prevention in children and adolescents.