The impact of exercise training on vascular function in children and adolescents with overweigh and obesity: a systematic review with meta-analysis

Poster Presentation
Paper ID : 1285-SSRC
Authors
1دانشگاه کاشان دانشکده علوم انسانی گروه علوم ورزشی
2دانشگاه کاشان
3University of Kashan
Abstract
Background and Purpose. Endothelial dysfunction is an important clinical predictive index for cardiovascular diseases, and obesity is one of the most important factors in the development of this dysfunction. On the other hand, exercise interventions can improve it in healthy people and people with metabolic disorders. However, the effects of exercise training on endothelial function in children and adolescents with overweight and obesity are not clear. Therefore, the aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to investigate the effects of exercise training compared to control on the flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) index in children and adolescents with overweight and obesity.
Materials and methods. A comprehensive search was conducted in three electronic databases including Scopus, PubMed and Web of Science until April 1402 using the keywords "exercise", "endothelial function", "children and adolescents" and "obesity". The inclusion criteria for this study included 1) randomized trials, 2) comparison of the effect of exercise training versus control, 3) child and adolescent subjects with a mean age of less than 18 years, and 4) evaluation of FMD as an index of endothelial function. To calculate effect size, the weighted mean difference (WMD) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) using a random model was calculated for the comparing the effect of exercise training versus control.
Results. A total of 379 children and adolescents with overweight and obesity from nine studies (12 interventions) were included in the meta-analysis. The results showed that exercise training significantly increased FMD compared to control [WMD: 1.36 (CI: 0.12 to 2.61), p=0.03]. Subgroup analyzes based on the intervention duration showed that short-term interventions have a significant effect on increasing FMD [WMD: 1.51 (CI: 0.17 to 2.84), p=0.02]. While the subgroup analysis based on the age of the subjects showed that this component did not has a significant effect on the increase of FMD.
Conclusion. The results of the present study confirm that exercise training improves vascular function in in children and adolescents with overweight and obesity and can be an effective strategy for preventing cardiovascular diseases in children and adolescents.
Keywords