title: Are muscular and cardiovascular fitness partially programmed at birth? Role of body composition.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine whether birth weight is associated with handgrip strength and cardiovascular fitness in adolescence and, if so, how these associations are influenced by current body composition.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 1801 adolescents (983 females), age 13 to 18.5 years, from the AVENA (Alimentación y Valoración del Estado Nutricional de los Adolescentes Españoles [Food and Assessment of the Nutritional Status of Spanish Adolescents]) study were evaluated. Handgrip strength and cardiovascular fitness were assessed using the handgrip test and the 20-m shuttle run test, respectively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Birth weight was positively associated with handgrip strength in females after controlling for current age, gestational age, breast-feeding, and adolescent body mass index (P = .002), body fat percentage (P < .001), or waist circumference (P = .005), but not after controlling for fat-free mass. The associations were similar yet weaker in males. Females with high birth weight (>90th percentile) had greater handgrip strength than those with normal (10th to 90th percentile) or low (<10th percentile) birth weight, after adjusting for body fat percentage (P = .004). All of the differences became nonsignificant after adjusting for adolescent fat-free mass. Birth weight was not associated with cardiovascular fitness.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  High birth weight is associated with greater handgrip strength in adolescents, especially in females, yet these associations seem to be highly explained by fat-free mass.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physiology, School of Medicine, University of Granada, Grenada, Spain. ortegaf@ugr.es
authors.forename: Francisco B
authors.initials: FB
authors.lastname: Ortega
authors.forename: Idoia
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Labayen
authors.forename: Jonatan R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Ruiz
authors.forename: Miguel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Martin-Matillas
authors.forename: Germán
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Vicente-Rodríguez
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Redondo
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wärnberg
authors.forename: Angel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gutiérrez
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sjöström
authors.forename: Manuel J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Castillo
authors.forename: Luis A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Moreno
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001724:Birth Weight; D001823:Body Composition; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002320:Cardiovascular Physiological Phenomena; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D053580:Muscle Strength / Q000502:physiology; D010809:Physical Fitness / Q000502:physiology*; D047929:Term Birth