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Increased childhood fitness linked to reduced adult systemic inflammation
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An increase in childhood fitness could lead to reduced adult systemic inflammation, if fitness and weight are maintained through adulthood, according to recent findings.
Cong Sun, MD, PhD, of Royal Children’s Hospital and the University of Melbourne in Australia, and colleagues evaluated 1,976 participants from the Childhood Determinants of Adult Health Study that followed young adults who had participants as children in the Australian Schools Health and Fitness Survey in 1985.
Cardiorespiratory fitness was measured in the 1985 childhood population through the time (in minutes) needed to complete a 1.6 km run. In both the childhood assessment and adult follow-up, cardiorespiratory fitness was evaluated by a test of physical working capacity at a heart rate of 170 beats per minute. This test was conducted on a bicycle ergometer pedaled at 60 revolutions per minute. An automated analyzer was used at follow-up to measure serum C-reactive protein (CRP). Plasma fibrinogen was measured using the Clauss clotting method through an automated coagulation analyzer.
The researchers used linear regression models to determine the correlations between childhood fitness and adiposity and adulthood CRP and fibrinogen. Analysis was stratified by gender due to the influence of hormonal contraceptive use on CRP in women.
The researchers found that in both genders, greater fitness in childhood was inversely correlated with adult inflammation. This association was diminished in males after adjusting for childhood adiposity, but persisted in females (average decrease of CRP, 18.1% per one standard deviation increase in childhood fitness). Lower adulthood CRP in females and lower fibrinogen in males was associated with an increase in fitness level from childhood to adulthood.
“To conclude, childhood cardiorespiratory fitness and change in fitness from childhood to adulthood are inversely associated with adult CRP and fibrinogen, and the underlying mechanism through which this occurs is at least partially independent of those associated with adiposity,” the researchers wrote. “These data suggest that prevention programs aimed at increasing cardiorespiratory fitness and reducing adiposity in childhood, and maintaining a favorable fitness and weight, may be important to reducing systemic inflammation in adulthood.”
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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