Abstract
Background:
A correlation between adiposity and post-exercise autonomic regulation has been established in overweight and obese children. However, little information exists about this link in non-obese youth. The main purpose of this cross-sectional study was to describe the relationship between body fat percentage (BFP) and heart rate recovery after exercise [post-exercise heart rate (PEHR)], a marker of autonomic regulation, in normal-weight children and adolescents.
Methods:
We evaluated the body composition of 183 children and adolescents (age 15.0±2.3 years; 132 boys and 51 girls) who performed a maximal graded exercise test on a treadmill, with the heart rate monitored during and immediately after exercise.
Results:
A strong positive trend was observed in the association between BFP and PEHR (r=0.14; p=0.06). Hierarchical multiple regression revealed that our model explained 18.3% of the variance in PEHR (p=0.00), yet BFP accounted for only 0.9% of the variability in PEHR (p=0.16). The evaluation of the contribution of each independent variable revealed that only two variables made a unique statistically significant contribution to our model (p<0.01), with age contributing 38.7% to our model (p=0.00) while gender accounted for an additional 25.5% (p=0.01). Neither BFP (14.4%; p=0.16) nor cardiorespiratory endurance (5.0%, p=0.60) made a significant unique contribution to the model.
Conclusions:
Body fatness seems to poorly predict PEHR in our sample of non-obese children and adolescents, while non-modifiable variables (age and gender) were demonstrated as strong predictors of heart rate recovery. The low amount of body fat reported in non-obese young participants was perhaps too small to cause disturbances in autonomic nervous system regulation.
Author contributions: All the authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this submitted manuscript and approved submission.
Research funding: This study was supported by the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development (Grant 175037), the Provincial Secretariat for Science and Technological Development (Grant 114-451-710) and the Faculty of Sport and Physical Education (2016 Annual Award).
Employment or leadership: None declared.
Honorarium: None declared.
Competing interests: The funding organization(s) played no role in the study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; or in the decision to submit the report for publication.
References
1. Ohuchi H, Suzuki H, Yasuda K, Arakaki Y, Echigo S, et al. Heart rate recovery after exercise and cardiac autonomic nervous activity in children. Pediatr Res 2000;47:329–35.10.1203/00006450-200003000-00008Search in Google Scholar PubMed
2. Lin LY, Kuo HK, Lai LP, Lin JL, Tseng CD, et al. Inverse correlation between heart rate recovery and metabolic risks in healthy children and adolescents: insight from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999–2002. Diabetes Care 2008;31:1015–20.10.2337/dc07-2299Search in Google Scholar PubMed
3. Simhaee D, Corriveau N, Gurm R, Geiger Z, Kline-Rogers E, et al. Recovery heart rate: an indicator of cardiovascular risk among middle school children. Pediatr Cardiol 2013;34: 1431–7.10.1007/s00246-013-0667-7Search in Google Scholar PubMed
4. Javorka K, Javorková J, Petrásková M, Tonhajzerová I, Buchanec J, et al. Heart rate variability and cardiovascular tests in young patients with diabetes mellitus type 1. J Pediatr Endocrinol Metab 1999;12:423–31.10.1515/JPEM.1999.12.3.423Search in Google Scholar
5. Kuo HK, Gore JM. Relation of heart rate recovery after exercise to insulin resistance and chronic inflammation in otherwise healthy adolescents and adults: results from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999–2004. Clin Res Cardiol 2015;104:764–72.10.1007/s00392-015-0843-2Search in Google Scholar PubMed
6. Ostojic SM. Post-exercise recovery: fundamental and interventional physiology. Front Physiol 2016;7:3.10.3389/978-2-88919-855-9Search in Google Scholar
7. Rossi RC, Vanderlei LC, Gonçalves AC, Vanderlei FM, Bernardo AF, et al. Impact of obesity on autonomic modulation, heart rate and blood pressure in obese young people. Auton Neurosci 2015;193:138–41.10.1016/j.autneu.2015.07.424Search in Google Scholar PubMed
8. Laguna M, Aznar S, Lara MT, Lucía A, Ruiz JR. Heart rate recovery is associated with obesity traits and related cardiometabolic risk factors in children and adolescents. Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis 2013;23:995–1001.10.1016/j.numecd.2012.10.002Search in Google Scholar PubMed
9. Abu Hanifah R, Mohamed MN, Jaafar Z, Mohsein NA, Jalaludin MY, et al. The correlates of body composition with heart rate recovery after step test: an exploratory study of Malaysian adolescents. PLoS One 2013;8:e82893.10.1371/journal.pone.0082893Search in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central
10. Soares-Miranda L, Alves AJ, Vale S, Aires L, Santos R, et al. Central fat influences cardiac autonomic function in obese and overweight girls. Pediatr Cardiol 2011;32:924–8.10.1007/s00246-011-0015-8Search in Google Scholar PubMed
11. Dangardt F, Volkmann R, Chen Y, Osika W, Marild S, et al. Reduced cardiac vagal activity in obese children and adolescents. Clin Physiol Funct Imaging 2011;31:108–13.10.1111/j.1475-097X.2010.00985.xSearch in Google Scholar
12. Kaufman CL, Kaiser DR, Steinberger J, Kelly AS, Dengel DR. Relationships of cardiac autonomic function with metabolic abnormalities in childhood obesity. Obesity 2007;15:1164–71.10.1038/oby.2007.619Search in Google Scholar
13. Dipla K, Zafeiridis A, Koidou I, Geladas N, Vrabas IS. Altered hemodynamic regulation and reflex control during exercise and recovery in obese boys. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 2010;299:2090–6.10.1152/ajpheart.00087.2010Search in Google Scholar
14. Baum P, Petroff D, Classen J, Kiess W, Blüher S. Dysfunction of autonomic nervous system in childhood obesity: a cross-sectional study. PLoS One 2013;8:e54546.10.1371/journal.pone.0054546Search in Google Scholar
15. Slaughter MH, Lohman TG, Boileau RA, Horswill CA, Stillman RJ, et al. Skinfold equations for estimation of body fatness in children and youth. Hum Biol 1988;60:709–23.Search in Google Scholar
16. McCarthy HD, Cole TJ, Fry T, Jebb SA, Prentice AM. Body fat reference curves for children. Int J Obes 2006;30:598–602.10.1038/sj.ijo.0803232Search in Google Scholar
17. Ostojic SM, Stojanovic MD, Calleja-Gonzalez J. Ultra short-term heart rate recovery after maximal exercise: relations to aerobic power in sportsmen. Chin J Physiol 2011;54:105–10.10.4077/CJP.2011.AMM018Search in Google Scholar
18. da Silva DF, Bianchini JA, Antonini VD, Hermoso DA, Lopera CA, et al. Parasympathetic cardiac activity is associated with cardiorespiratory fitness in overweight and obese adolescents. Pediatr Cardiol 2014;35:684–90.10.1007/s00246-013-0838-6Search in Google Scholar
19. Üner A, Doğan M, Epcacan Z, Epçaçan S. The effect of childhood obesity on cardiac functions. J Pediatr Endocrinol Metab 2014;27:261–71.10.1515/jpem-2013-0157Search in Google Scholar
20. Tonello L, Reichert FF, Oliveira-Silva I, Del Rosso S, Leicht AS, et al. Correlates of heart rate measures with incidental physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness in overweight female workers. Front Physiol 2016;6:405.10.3389/fphys.2015.00405Search in Google Scholar
21. Imai K, Sato H, Hori M, Kusuoka H, Ozaki H, et al. Vagally mediated heart rate recovery after exercise is accelerated in athletes but blunted in patients with chronic heart failure. J Am Coll Cardiol 1994;24:1529–35.10.1016/0735-1097(94)90150-3Search in Google Scholar
22. Hägglund H, Uusitalo A, Peltonen JE, Koponen AS, Aho J, et al. Cardiovascular autonomic nervous system function and aerobic capacity in type 1 diabetes. Front Physiol 2012;3:356.10.3389/fphys.2012.00356Search in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central
23. Porges SW, Furman SA. The early development of the autonomic nervous system provides a neural platform for social behavior: a polyvagal perspective. Infant Child Dev 2011;20:106–18.10.1002/icd.688Search in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central
24. Liu CC, Kuo TB, Yang CC. Effects of estrogen on gender-related autonomic differences in humans. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 2003;285:H2188–93.10.1152/ajpheart.00256.2003Search in Google Scholar PubMed
©2017 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
