Associations between physical activity, body fat, and insulin resistance (homeostasis model assessment) in adolescents: the European Youth Heart Study.

Description

Rizzo et al. performed cross-sectional analyses in 613 adolescents of the European Youth Heart Study to measure the associations between physical activity, obesity, and insulin resistance in youth. Physical activity was measured by accelerometry, obesity was estimated by the sum of five skinfolds thickness and by waist circumference, and insulin resistance was estimated by the homeostatic model assessment (HOMA). When adolescents were classified into tertiles of physical activity intensity, those in the top tertile had an HOMA index about twice as low as those in the bottom tertile of physical activity intensity. Similarly, when adolescents were classified according to waist circumference, those in the top waist circumference tertile had an HOMA index that was approximately twice as high as adolescents in the bottom waist circumference tertile. A similar association was found when participants were separated according to the sum of skinfolds. Based on these results, the authors concluded that adolescents with elevated body fat might benefit from spending more time doing vigorous physical activity in order to improve insulin sensitivity.