Associations between Health-Related Fitness and Cardio-Metabolic Blood Profiles in Low-Income Children

Children from low-income families have a higher incidence for developing early onset cardio-metabolic disease risk factors. Optimal levels of health-related fitness may attenuate risk, but little research has examined its relationships with individual cardio-metabolic blood markers in low-income children. The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence and correlates of unfavorable cardio-metabolic blood profiles in children from low-income families. Data were collected and analyzed on 124 children (mean age = 10.4 ± 0.9 years; 57 girls, 67 boys; 97% Hispanic) recruited from three urban Title I schools from the state of Utah in the US Health-related fitness. Measures were collected using the validated FITNESSGRAM fitness test battery. The Cholestech LDX system was used to analyze students’ total cholesterol (TC), LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, triglycerides (TRI), and blood glucose (BG). Capillary blood samples via finger sticks were collected while each student was in a fasted state before school hours. Unfavorable measurements were defined as TC ≥ 200 mg/dL, LDL ≥ 130 mg/dL, HDL < 40 mg/dL, TRI > 150 mg/dL, and BG ≥ 100 mg/dL (pre-diabetes). Approximately 5.3% of the total sample had unfavorable TC, 16.7% had unfavorable HDL, 16.0% had unfavorable LDL, 15.2% had unfavorable TRI, and 25.4% had unfavorable BG (pre-diabetes). Pearson’s chi-square tests revealed no significant differences between sexes on any unfavorable classification after alpha level adjustment (p > 0.01). When all parameters were analyzed as continuous variables, Spearman’s rank correlation revealed a statistically significant linear relationship between aerobic fitness and LDL in boys (rs = - 0.65, p < 0.01), between BMI and HDL in girls (rs = - 0.46, p < 0.01), and between BMI and BG in girls (rs = 0.56, p < 0.01). Aerobic fitness relates to LDL cholesterol in low-income boys and BMI relates to HDL cholesterol and BG in low-income girls.