Kerstin Ketelhut

Daily Physical Activity Improves Vascular Function and Motor Skills in Children

The literature is consistent that regular physical activity in children has to be increased in order to compensate the negative health effects resulting from growing sedentary lifestyle. Thus, we analyzed in 45 students (aged 6.6 ± 0.7 years) the effects of a regular exercise intervention, on top of the normal physical education classes, on motor performance (MP) and hemodynamic parameters. The students were randomized either to an intervention (INT) (n = 23) or a control (CON) (n = 22) group. Throughout a 9 months period, INT received additional exercise interventions two days a week for 45 minutes. The main outcome measures were MP, peripheral and central blood pressure (BP), augmentation index (Alx) and aortic pulse wave velocity (aPWV). After the exercise intervention, we found significant (P < 0.05) positive effects on various test items of MP and significant decreases in peripheral and central systolic BP in INT. In contrast, in CON the respective parameters increased in CON after the observation period. Moreover, aPWV decreased significantly in INT (P = 0.047) and increased in CON, thus resulting in a significant difference in the mean change (P = 0.043). There were no considerable changes in AIx in both groups. In conclusion, we demonstrated that an increase in regular physical activity has a positive influence on development of MP and hemodynamic parameters even in early childhood. The findings of this study suggest that an increase in exercise time should be initiated as early as possible to improve motor ability and prevent future cardiovascular risk.

1161-181 Regular Exercise Improves Risk Profile and Motor Development in Early Childhood

tolic BP, mean arterial pressure (MAP), total cholesterol, HDL, and LDL, between highand low CRP groups. High CRP patients did however demonstrate higher BMI (+4%;p=0.02), triglycerides (+13%; p=0.07), %fat (+6%; p=0.01), resting heart rate (+6%;p=0.004) as well as a lower peak VO2 (-9%; p<0.0001) respectively.Results: Following CRET, both high and low CRP groups exhibited statistical improve-ments in %fat (-3.0%, -4.3%), HDL (+7.3%, +7.1%), triglycerides (-12.1%, -8.2%) andpeakVO2 (+11.0%, +8.8%) respectively. Systolic, diastolic and MAP improved in patientswith low CRP but did not change in high CRP patients (Table).Conclusion: Therapeutic lifestyle change implemented through CRET improves most CVrisk factors. High levels of inflammation, however, appear to blunt the hemodynamicimprovements normally associated with CRET.