K. Tolfrey et al., Selected predictor variables and the lipid-lipoprotein profile of prepubertal girls and boys, MED SCI SPT, 31(11), 1999, pp. 1550-1557
Purpose: It is still unclear how habitual physical activity (HPA), peak (V)
over dot O-2, percent body fat (%BF), and dietary composition are related
to the lipid-lipoprotein profile in children. The purpose of this study was
to identify independent contributions from these selected predictor variab
les to prepubertal children's lipid-lipoprotein profile. Methods: Peak (V)
over dot O-2, HPA from continuous heart rate monitoring, %BF, 7-d dietary a
nalysis, total cholesterol (TC), total triacylglycerol (TG), high density l
ipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (HDL-C), low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholest
erol (LDL-C), TC/HDL-C, and LDL-C/HDL-C were determined in 33 prepubertal g
irls and 38 prepubertal boys (mean +/- SD age, 10.6 +/- 0.7 yr). Results: B
ivariate correlation analyses revealed that peak (V) over dot O-2, %BF, and
HPA were related to the lipid-lipoprotein profile in girls (P < 0.05). For
the boys, HPA was only related to TC/HDL-C (P < 0.05) and LDL-C/HDL-C (P <
0.05), whereas daily energy intake (kJ . d(-1)) was associated with TC and
LDL-C (P < 0.05). Multiple linear regression analyses indicated that peak
(V) over dot O-2, %BF and HPA were the main predictor variables for the gir
ls. Peak (V) over dot O-2 accounted for 22.7%, 24.8%, 22.5%, and 24.2% of t
he unique variance (sr(i)(2)) in TG, HDL-C, LDL-C/HDL-C, and TC/HDL-C, resp
ectively. For TC and LDL-C in girls, sr(i)(2) were 18.0% and 22.6%, respect
ively, from HPA. In contrast, only daily energy intake had a significant un
ique contribution to the variance of TC (15.4%) and LDL-C (22.0%) for the b
oys. Summary: The main findings from this study were that the predictor var
iables are lipid-lipoprotein specific and depend on gender. These results w
ould support the growing evidence that it is important to nurture an active
lifestyle in children from an early age and that an awareness of fitness a
nd body fatness is required.