Longitudinal association between ideal cardiovascular health status and muscular fitness in adolescents: The LabMed Physical Activity Study

Background and aims: Muscular fitn ess is an emergin g predictor for cardiovasculardisease mortality. The ideal cardiovascular health metrics has been inversely related to a subse-quent cardiometabolic health in adulthood. However, evidence regarding muscular fitness andideal cardiovascular health in adolescents is scarce. This study aimed to examine the longitudinalassociation between ideal cardiovascular health index and muscular fitness.Methods and results: This study cohort consisted of 331 adolescents (183 girls) from the LabMedPhysical Activity Study who were followed from 2011 to 2013. Ideal cardiovascular health, asdefined by the American Heart Association, was determined as meeting ideal health factors (totalcholesterol, blood pressure, and glucose) and behaviors (smoking status, body mass index, phys-ical activity, and diet). Handgrip strength and standing long jump tests assessed muscular fitnessand were transformed into standardized values according to age and sex. ANCOVA showed a sig-nificant association between the accumulation of ideal cardiovascular health metrics at baselineand muscular fitness indices at follow-up (F(4, 322)Z 2.280, p Z 0.04). In addition, the higher thenumber of ideal cardiovascular health metrics accumulated, the higher the likelihood of having ahigh muscular fitness over a two-year period (p for trend Z 0.01), after adjustments for age, sex,pubertal stage and socioeconomic status and muscular fitness at baseline.Conclusion: The ideal cardiovascular health status during adolescence was associated with highmuscular fitness levels over a two-year period.