Prediction of Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors Later in Life by Physical Activity and Physical Fitness in Youth: General Comments and Conclusions

Introduction

This supplement has brought together six longitudinal observational studies investigating the relationship between physical activity and physical fitness (i. e., cardiopulmonary fitness) during youth and CVD risk factors later in life. In the Amsterdam Growth and Health Study [16], over a period of 20 years, eight repeated measurements were carried out. The study started at the age of 13 years and the last measurement was carried out at the age of 32 years. The total longitudinal cohort consisted of 212 males and 241 females. The Muscatine Study [6] describes a 5-year longitudinal project with annual measurements. The initial age of the 125 subjects was 10.5 years. In the Leuven Longitudinal Study on Lifestyle, Fitness and Health [7] a cohort of 166 Belgian boys was followed over a period of 27 years, in which nine repeated measurements were carried out. Like in the Amsterdam Growth and Health Study, the initial age of the children in the Leuven Longitudinal Study on Lifestyle, Fitness and Health was 13 years. The Northern Ireland Young Hearts Project [3] started with one cohort of 12-year old school children, and with one cohort of 15-year-old school children. The follow-up period of this longitudinal study was about 9 years and the total number of subjects available for analysis was 226 males and 193 females. In the Danish Youth and Sports Study [4] two measurements were carried out over a period of 8 years. Eighty-eight males and 117 females with an initial age between 15 and 19 years participated in this study. The Bogalusa Heart Study [12] concerns a biracial sample of children with initial ages between 5 and 14 years. The follow-up period of the 1169 subjects (64 % white, 36 % black, 50 % males and 50 % females) was around 15 years. Fig. [1] gives an overview of the six studies involved in this supplement.

Fig. 1 Overview of study period and the number of subjects of the five observational longitudinal studies presented in this supplement.

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