title: Associations between objectively measured physical activity intensity in childhood and measures of subclinical cardiovascular disease in adolescence: prospective observations from the European Youth Heart Study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  No prospective studies have investigated the association between physical activity (PA) and carotid subclinical cardiovascular disease across childhood. Therefore, the primary aim was to investigate the association between PA intensity across childhood and carotid intima media thickness (cIMT) and stiffness in adolescence. Second, we included a clustered cardiovascular disease risk score as outcome.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a prospective study of a sample of 254 children (baseline age 8-10 years) with a 6-year follow-up. The mean exposure and the change in minutes of moderate-and-vigorous and vigorous PA intensity were measured using the Actigraph activity monitor. Subclinical cardiovascular disease was expressed as cIMT, carotid arterial stiffness and secondarily as a metabolic risk z-score including the homoeostasis model assessment score of insulin resistance, triglycerides, total cholesterol to high-density lipoprotein ratio, inverse of cardiorespiratory fitness, systolic blood pressure and the sum of four skinfolds.
  
  
  RESULTS
  No associations were observed between PA intensity variables and cIMT or carotid arterial stiffness (p>0.05). Neither change in PA intensity (moderate-and-vigorous nor vigorous) nor mean minutes of moderate-and-vigorous PA intensity was associated to the metabolic risk z-score in adolescence (p>0.05). However, a significant inverse association was observed between mean minutes of vigorous PA and the metabolic risk z-score in adolescence independent of gender and biological maturity (standard β=-0.19 p=0.007).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A high mean exposure to, or changes in, minutes spent at higher PA intensities across childhood was not associated to cIMT or stiffness in the carotid arteries in adolescence. Our observations suggest that a high volume of vigorous PA across childhood independently associated with lower metabolic cardio vascular disease risk in adolescence.
authors.affiliation: Research Unit for Exercise Epidemiology, Institute of Sport Science and Clinical Biomechanics, Centre of Research in Childhood Health, University of Southern Denmark, Odense M, Denmark.
authors.forename: Mathias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ried-Larsen
authors.affiliation: Research Unit for Exercise Epidemiology, Institute of Sport Science and Clinical Biomechanics, Centre of Research in Childhood Health, University of Southern Denmark, Odense M, Denmark.
authors.forename: Anders
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Grøntved
authors.affiliation: Research Unit for Exercise Epidemiology, Institute of Sport Science and Clinical Biomechanics, Centre of Research in Childhood Health, University of Southern Denmark, Odense M, Denmark.
authors.forename: Niels Christian
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Møller
authors.affiliation: Research Unit for Exercise Epidemiology, Institute of Sport Science and Clinical Biomechanics, Centre of Research in Childhood Health, University of Southern Denmark, Odense M, Denmark.
authors.forename: Kristian Traberg
authors.initials: KT
authors.lastname: Larsen
authors.affiliation: Research Unit for Exercise Epidemiology, Institute of Sport Science and Clinical Biomechanics, Centre of Research in Childhood Health, University of Southern Denmark, Odense M, Denmark.
authors.forename: Karsten
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Froberg
authors.affiliation: Research Unit for Exercise Epidemiology, Institute of Sport Science and Clinical Biomechanics, Centre of Research in Childhood Health, University of Southern Denmark, Odense M, Denmark Department of Sports Medicine, Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Lars Bo
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Andersen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002340:Carotid Artery Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D017536:Carotid Artery, Common / Q000503:physiopathology*; D059168:Carotid Intima-Media Thickness; D002648:Child; D003718:Denmark / Q000453:epidemiology; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008659:Metabolic Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D059289:Vascular Stiffness / Q000502:physiology
keywords: Cardiovascular epidemiology; Children's health and exercise; Health promotion through physical activity