Blood Pressure, Fitness, and Fatness in 5- and 6-Year-Old Children
- Bernard Gutin, PhD;
- Charles Basch, PhD;
- Steven Shea, MD;
- Isobel Contento, PhD;
- Mollie DeLozier, EdD;
- Jill Rips, MA;
- Matilde Irigoyen, MD;
- Patricia Zybert, PhD
- From the Departments of Movement Sciences and Education (Drs Gutin and DeLozier), Health Education (Drs Basch and Zybert and Ms Rips), and Nutrition Education (Dr Contento), Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY; and the Department of Medicine and the School of Public Health (Dr Shea) and the Department of Pediatrics (Dr Irigoyen), Health Sciences Division, Columbia University, New York, NY.
Abstract
Cross-sectional relations among blood pressure (BP), aerobic fitness, body fatness, and fat patterning were studied in 216 primarily Hispanic inner-city 5-and 6-year-olds. Fitness was measured with a submaximal treadmill test, and fatness was measured with five skin folds. Diastolic BP was inversely related to fitness in the boys and girls, and positively related to fatness for the boys. Systolic BP was positively related to fatness for the boys and girls. Using multiple regression and including parental BPs, fatness explained significant proportions of the variance in systolic BP for both the boys and girls and in diastolic BP for the boys. There were tendencies for central skin folds to explain more of the variation in BP than peripheral skin folds only for the boys. Fitness and fatness were inversely related for the boys and girls. Thus, at 5 and 6 years of age children exhibit some of the same risk factors for cardiovascular disease seen in adults.
(JAMA. 1990;264:1123-1127)
Footnotes
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Reprint requests to Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027 (Dr Gutin).
