Selected predictor variables and the lipid-lipoprotein profile of prepubertal girls and boys.

Abstract

It is still unclear how habitual physical activity (HPA), peak VO2, 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 variables to prepubertal children's lipid-lipoprotein profile. Peak VO2, HPA from continuous heart rate monitoring, %BF, 7-d dietary analysis, total cholesterol (TC), total triacylglycerol (TG), high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (HDL-C), low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (LDL-C), TC/HDL-C, and LDL-C/HDL-C were determined in 33 prepubertal girls and 38 prepubertal boys (mean +/- SD age, 10.6 +/- 0.7 yr). Bivariate correlation analyses revealed that peak VO2, %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 x d(-1)) was associated with TC and LDL-C (P < 0.05). Multiple linear regression analyses indicated that peak VO2, %BF and HPA were the main predictor variables for the girls. Peak VO2 accounted for 22.7%, 24.8%, 22.5%, and 24.2% of the unique variance (sr(i)2) in TG, HDL-C, LDL-C/HDL-C, and TC/HDL-C, respectively. For TC and LDL-C in girls, sr(i)2 were 18.0% and 22.6%, respectively, from HPA. In contrast, only daily energy intake had a significant unique contribution to the variance of TC (15.4%) and LDL-C (22.0%) for the boys. The main findings from this study were that the predictor variables are lipid-lipoprotein specific and depend on gender. These results would 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 and body fatness is required.