<http://purl.org/dc/terms/description>
"Background: The prevalence of CVD risk factors in children is high. Physical activity is linked with\r\ncardiovascular health but 50% of children are not considered active enough to maintain good health.\r\nObjectives: The primary objectives were to; i) evaluate the prevalence of established and novel CVD risk\r\nfactors in elementary school children, and ii) assess the effect of a school-based physical activity model on\r\nselected GVD risk factors.\r\nResearch design: A 16-month cluster-randomized controlled school-based intervention with the research\r\nquestions addressed in 6 sub-studies. Sub-studies 1- 4 are cross sectional analyses of baseline data. Substudies\r\n5 and 6 are results from 1-school year of the randomized controlled trial.\r\nMethods: Ten schools were randomized to intervention (INT) or control (CON) groups. Children (n=268,\r\naged 9-11 years) from 8 schools took part in Healthy Hearts measurements. The trial aimed to provide\r\nchildren with 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per week. Anthropometry, physical\r\nactivity, cardiovascular fitness, blood pressure, arterial compliance, heart rate variability and serum factors\r\nwere assessed at baseline and final.\r\nResults: Study 1:1 developed a Healthy Heart Score to assess potential CVD risk. Girls had a more\r\nfavourable Healthy Heart Score than boys. 47% of girls and 68% of boys had at least one CVD risk factor.\r\nStudy 2: Fitness level of Canadian children at the 50t h percentile in 2004 was equivalent to the fitness of\r\nCanadian children at the 19th percentile in 1981. Study 3: A significant relationship exists between\r\ncardiovascular fitness and arterial compliance in boys and girls. Study 4: Racial differences in heart rate\r\nvariability exist between Asian- and Caucasian-Canadian children. Sub-study 5: INT children had a 20%\r\ngreater increase in fitness compared with CON children. Children deemed at higher risk for CVD showed\r\nlarge improvements in blood pressure and serum factors. Sub-study 6: INT boys demonstrated a 25%\r\ngreater improvement in large artery compliance than CON boys.\r\nConclusions: There was a relatively high prevalence of CVD risk factors in this cohort of children. Action\r\nSchools! BC offers promise as a simple, inexpensive strategy for enhancing cardiovascular health in similar\r\nchildren."@en
<https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/831/items/1.0077014>