Participation in Non-professional Sports and Cardiovascular Outcomes Among Adolescents: ABCD Growth Study

Abstract

Objectives: Sports are an important way to improve health during adolescence. However, it is still unclear whether the association between sports, blood pressure, and metabolic profile could be affected by sex, biological maturation, and trunk fatness. The aim of this study was to analyze the association between sports participation and the cluster of cardiovascular markers among adolescents of both sexes. Methods: A cross-sectional study involving 285 adolescents aged from 11 to 17 years of age (202 boys and 83 girls). Cardiovascular variables were composed of systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), resting heart rate (RHR), and carotid (CIMT) and femoral (FIMT) intima–media thickness, which were used to calculate the CardiovascularZ score. Sports participation was assessed through a face-to-face interview. Age of peak height velocity (APHV) was used as a covariate. Results: Among girls, the group engaged in sports presented lower values of RHR (sport: − 0.344 [95% CI − 0.650 to − 0.037] versus non-sport: 0.540 [95% CI 0.125 to 0.954]) and CardiovascularZ score (sport: − 0.585 [95% CI − 1.329 to 0.159] versus non-sport: 0.879 [95% CI − 0.127 to 1.884]), explaining 12.2% and 6.1% of all variance, respectively. Among boys, the group engaged in sports presented lower values of DBP (sport: − 0.158 [95% CI − 0.335 to 0.018] versus non-sport: 0.160 [95% CI − 0.091 to 0.412]) and FIMT (sport: − 0.128 [95% CI − 0.300 to − 0.044] versus non-sport: 0.211 [95% CI − 0.032 to 0.454]), explaining 2.2% and 2.6% of all variance, respectively. Conclusions for Practice: Adolescents engaged in sports presented healthier cardiovascular parameters, and sports participation seems to affect cardiovascular health differently in boys and girls.