Cardiometabolic risk factor levels in Norwegian children compared to international reference values: The ASK study

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 14; no. 8; p. e0220239
• Main Authors: Stavnsbo, Mette, Skrede, Turid, Aadland, Eivind, Aadland, Katrine N, Chinapaw, Mai, Anderssen, Sigmund A, Andersen, Lars B, Resaland, Geir K
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 19.08.2019; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Age; Atherosclerosis; Biology and Life Sciences; Blood Glucose - metabolism; Blood Pressure; Body mass; Body Mass Index; Body size; Cardiorespiratory fitness; Cardiorespiratory Fitness - physiology; Cardiovascular diseases; Cardiovascular Diseases - etiology; Cardiovascular physiology; Child; Child health; Children; Children's fitness; Cholesterol; Cross-Sectional Studies; Density; Diabetes; Female; Food; Girls; Glucose; Health aspects; Health risks; Health Status; High density lipoprotein; Humans; Insulin; Insulin Resistance; International standardization; International standards; Lipids - blood; Low density lipoprotein; Low density lipoproteins; Male; Medical research; Medicine; Medicine and Health Sciences; Metabolic Syndrome - etiology; Metabolic syndrome X; Norway; Nutrition research; Obesity; Pediatric research; Pediatrics; People and Places; Physical fitness; Physical Sciences; Public health; Reference materials; Reference Values; Respiratory physiology; Risk analysis; Risk Factors; Sports medicine; Statistics; Studies; Teenagers; Trends; Triglycerides; Waist Circumference; Norway; United States > US; Germany
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0220239

To investigate cardiometabolic risk factor levels in a group of Norwegian 10-year-old children compared to international values and examine the association between cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and the reference-standardized clustered risk score. 913 children (49% girls) were included from the Active Smarter Kids (ASK) study. Body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), total cholesterol (TC) to HDL-C ratio, triglyceride (TG), glucose, insulin, homeostatic model assessment (HOMA) score and CRF, were standardized according to international age-and sex-specific reference values. The Norwegian children had significantly more favorable WC, DBP, glucose, HDL-C and CRF levels compared to the international reference values, but similar or less favorable levels of other cardiometabolic risk factors. CRF was the variable that differed the most from the international values (mean (95% CI) 1.20 (1.16 to 1.24) SD). The clustered risk score (excluding CRF) was higher in the Norwegian children, but decreased to below international levels when including CRF (mean (95% CI) - 0.08 (- 0.12 to -0.05) SD). CRF had a significant inverse association with the clustered risk score (excluding CRF) (β - 0.37 SD, 95% CI -0.43 to -0.31). Norwegian children have substantially higher CRF levels than international standards, and including CRF in clustered risk scores reduces overall risk in Norwegian children below that of international levels. CRF is associated with improved cardiometabolic health in children.