title: Relationship between cardiorespiratory fitness and blood pressure in young adults: a mediation analysis of body composition.
abstract: High blood pressure levels are among the most important cardiovascular disease risk factors and are influenced by physical fitness and body composition. However, the degree to which obesity may attenuate or modify the beneficial effects of physical fitness on blood pressure levels in young adults is uncertain. Thus, the aim of this study was to analyze whether body composition is a mediator between cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and blood pressure levels in young adults. This work was a cross-sectional study involving first-year college students (n=386) at the University Campus of Cuenca (Spain). We measured weight, height, waist circumference, fat mass percentage (by densitometry), systolic and diastolic blood pressure and CRF levels (by a 20 m shuttle run test). Partial correlation coefficients were estimated to examine the relationships among adiposity variables, CRF and blood pressure variables, controlling for age and sex. ANCOVA models were conducted to explore differences in blood pressure levels across adiposity and CRF categories. Hayes's PROCESS macro was used for the simple mediation analysis. The indirect effect and Sobel test were significant (P<0.001), confirming that all body composition variables mediate between CRF and all of the included blood pressure variables. All body composition variables acted as mediators between CRF and blood pressure. These results highlight the importance of maintaining a healthy body composition to prevent hypertension in young adults.
authors.affiliation: Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Health and Social Research Centre. Calle Santa Teresa de Jornet s/n, Cuenca, Spain.|Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Faculty of Nursing. Calle Santa Teresa de Jornet s/n, Cuenca, Spain.
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Díez-Fernández
authors.affiliation: Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Health and Social Research Centre. Calle Santa Teresa de Jornet s/n, Cuenca, Spain.|Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Faculty of Education. Ronda de Calatrava 3, Ciudad Real, Spain.
authors.forename: Mairena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sánchez-López
authors.affiliation: Servicio de salud de Castilla-La Mancha, Hospital Virgen de la Luz. Servicio de Medicina Interna, Calle Hermandad de donantes de sangre s/n, Cuenca, Spain.
authors.forename: José Antonio
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Nieto
authors.affiliation: Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Health and Social Research Centre. Calle Santa Teresa de Jornet s/n, Cuenca, Spain.|Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Faculty of Nursing. Calle Santa Teresa de Jornet s/n, Cuenca, Spain.
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: González-García
authors.affiliation: Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Health and Social Research Centre. Calle Santa Teresa de Jornet s/n, Cuenca, Spain.
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Miota-Ibarra
authors.affiliation: Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Health and Social Research Centre. Calle Santa Teresa de Jornet s/n, Cuenca, Spain.|Hospital de Clínicas. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Universidad Nacional de Asunción. Avenida Mariscal López, San Lorenzo, Paraguay.
authors.forename: Ignacio
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ortiz-Galeano
authors.affiliation: Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Health and Social Research Centre. Calle Santa Teresa de Jornet s/n, Cuenca, Spain.|Universidad Autónoma de Chile. Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Talca, Chile.
authors.forename: Vicente
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Martínez-Vizcaíno
mesh_terms: D015502:Absorptiometry, Photon; D050154:Adiposity; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D001823:Body Composition / Q000502:physiology*; D015992:Body Mass Index; D000072599:Cardiorespiratory Fitness / Q000502:physiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005080:Exercise Test; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013030:Spain; D055105:Waist Circumference; D055815:Young Adult