Association Among Bone-loading Physical Activity, Arterial Stiffness, And Body Composition In Healthy College-aged Students

Abstract

PURPOSE: The aim of this cross-sectional study was to determine if bone-loading physical activity was positively related to arterial stiffness and body composition in healthy college-aged students. METHODS: Healthy college-aged women (n=56, 20.3±1.3 years) and men (n=47, 21.0±1.2 years) between the ages of 18 and 25 years were recruited from the University of Massachusetts Lowell. The total bone-specific physical activity questionnaire (tBPAQ, average of past and current BPAQ) was used to obtain a comprehensive account of lifetime bone-loading physical activity. We measured the carotid to femoral pulse wave velocity (cf-PWV) to evaluate arterial stiffness using a novel oscillometric device (SphygmoCor XCEL). Dual energy X-ray absorptiometry was used to measure lean mass (kg) and percent body fat (%BF) for this study. RESULTS: Pearson’s correlation tests showed a significant inverse relationship between tBPAQ and cf-PWV (r=-0.338, p=0.011) in college-aged women; however, this relationship was not found in college-aged men (p>0.05). There were significant negative correlations between tBPAQ and %BF in both college- aged women (r=-0.265, p=0.048) and men (r=-0.306, p=0.036). No significant relationships were found between tBPAQ and lean mass in both groups (p>0.05). CONCLUSION: We found that bone-loading physical activity was negatively associated with arterial stiffness measured by the cf-PWV in college-aged women, but not in men. The %BF was inversely related to tBPAQ scores in both college-aged women and men. Thus, high impact bone-loading physical activity could be recommended to improve arterial stiffness and reduce %BF in young collage-aged students.