title: Physical activity as a preventive measure for coronary heart disease risk factors in early childhood.
abstract: Physical activity causes acute physiological and long-term adaptive responses in the body. It is a protective factor for coronary heart disease (CHD) in adults. It has been assumed that children younger than 8 years of age may be in general active enough and there would be hardly any relationships between physical activity and CHD risk factors in early childhood. One hundred and fifty-five children (age 4-7 years) participated in this physical activity study during three consecutive years. Physical activity was examined twice a year with a special-purpose physical activity diary. CHD risk factors were measured during annual health care visits in the Specific Turku Coronary Risk-Factor Intervention Project (STRIP). We found that physical activity was related to CHD risk factors in early childhood. Among the girls, low-activity playing was related to a higher BMI. At the mean age of 6 years, high-activity playing was negatively related to serum total cholesterol (r=-0.32*) and positively to the high-density lipoprotein (HDL)/total cholesterol ratio (r=0.37**). The negative relationship between high-activity playing and triglycerides was highest (r=-0.32*) at the mean age of six. Among 4-year-old boys, playing outdoors correlated positively with serum HDL cholesterol concentration (r=0.29*) and the HDL/total ratio (r=0.35**). At the age of 5 years, physically active playing correlated positively with systolic blood pressure (r=0.25*). Playing outdoors and high-activity playing already have important health-maintaining effects in 4-7-year-old children. These positive effects differ between genders. (*P<0.05 **P<0.01)
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Education, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland. saakslahti@norssi.jyu.fi
authors.forename: Arja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sääkslahti
authors.forename: Pirkko
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Numminen
authors.forename: Väinö
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Varstala
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Helenius
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tammi
authors.forename: Jorma
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Viikari
authors.forename: Ilkka
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Välimäki
mesh_terms: D001794:Blood Pressure; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000517:prevention & control*; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D006128:Growth; D006801:Humans; D008055:Lipids / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D012307:Risk Factors
chemical_list: D008055:Lipids