Associations between cardiorespiratory fitness and changes in cardiovascular clustered risk factors in 10–3-year-old children : the NW-CHILD Study

Abstract

International and South African literature indicated two main findings regarding adolescent body composition, blood pressure and cardiorespiratory fitness. Primarily, literature made it evident that as cardiorespiratory fitness decreased, the prevalence of obesity and hypertension increased among children and adolescents. Furthermore, literature confirmed the associations between cardiorespiratory fitness, obesity and hypertension. The concern about increasing obesity and hypertension prevalence along with declining fitness, is amplified when the negative effects for our youth are considered. There is, however, a gap in current research regarding the longitudinal cardiorespiratory fitness, obesity and hypertension prevalence and their associations among South African adolescents from the North West Province. With this knowledge, this dissertation firstly aims to determine longitudinal changes in cardiorespiratory fitness and two components of cardiovascular risk factors (obesity and hypertension) among South African adolescents. Secondly, this dissertation aims to determine longitudinal associations between cardiorespiratory fitness and two cardiovascular risk components (obesity and hypertension). ...