Aerobic exercise and lipids and lipoproteins in children and adolescents: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Objective: Use the meta-analytic approach to examine the effects of aerobic exercise on total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and triglycerides (TG) in children and adolescents. Study design: Randomized controlled trials which were limited to aerobic exercise >= 4 weeks in children and adolescents 5-19 years of age. Results: Twelve outcomes representing 389 subjects were available for pooling. Using random-effects modeling, a trend for statistically significant decreases of 12% was found for TG ((X) over barX S.E.M., -11.0 +/- 6.1 mg/dl; 95% CI, -22.8-0.8 mg/dl) with no statistically significant changes for TC, HDL-C, and LDL-C. Decreases in LDL-C were associated with increased training intensity (r = -0.89; 99% Cl, -0.99 to -0.04) and older age (r = -0.90; 99% CI, -0.99 to -0.25) while increases in HDL-C were associated with lower initial HDL-C (r = -0.75; 99% Cl, -0.94 to -0.80). Statistically significant decreases in TG were observed in overweight/obese subjects with a trend for increases in HDL-C (TG, X +/- S.E.M., -23.9 +/- 7.0 mg/dl; 95% Cl, -37.6 to -10.1 mg/dl; HDL-C, (X) over bar +/- S.E.M., 4.0 +/- 2.3 mg/dl; 95% Cl, -0.5-8.5 mg/dl). Conclusions: Aerobic exercise decreases TG in overweight/obese children and adolescents. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.