Associations between substitution of sedentary behavior patterns to physical activity and cardiovascular risk factors in adolescents: a 3-year longitudinal study

Abstract Background: Little is known on how the substitutions of time from sedentary behavior patterns to physical activity (PA) impacts cardiovascular risk factors during adolescence. In this sense, the study aimed to investigated the associations between substitutions of sedentary behavior (SB) and SB patterns to different PA intensities and changes in cardiovascular risk factors during adolescence in analyses stratified by sex. Methods: Prospective cohort study whit mean follow-up period of 3.2 (± 0.34) years, involving Brazilian adolescents. Body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC) and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) were the cardiovascular risk factors considered. SB patterns, light physical activity (LPA) and moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) were measured by accelerometers. Multivariate linear regression models adopting the isotemporal substitution were used to analyze the association between substitution of 30 min.day -1 of SB patterns to LPA and MVPA and risk factors. All analyses considered 5% significance levels. Results: Substitutions of sedentary time, short and long bouts to MVPA were associated with higher CRF in boys (β = 0.228, 95%CI = 0.040-0.416, β = 0.213, 95%CI = 0.019-0.406 and β = 0.287, 95%CI = 0.077-0.497, respectively). No associations were observed when analyses involved substitution of SB patterns to LPA, adiposity and girls. Conclusion: Substituting SB patterns to MVPA appears to favorably influence changes of CRF in boys during adolescence. Greater benefits appear to occur when longer sedentary bouts are substituted by MVPA.