gms | German Medical Science

MAINZ//2011: 56. GMDS-Jahrestagung und 6. DGEpi-Jahrestagung

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Medizinische Informatik, Biometrie und Epidemiologie e. V.
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Epidemiologie e. V.

26. - 29.09.2011 in Mainz

The influence of physical fitness on overweight/obesity and its parent-offspring correlations among German families

Meeting Abstract

  • Frauke Günther - Bremer Institut für Präventionsforschung und Sozialmedizin, Bremen
  • Susanne Winkler - Bremer Institut für Präventionsforschung und Sozialmedizin, Bremen
  • Mirko Brandes - Institut für Sportwissenschaft, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Oldenburg
  • Ronja Foraita - Bremer Institut für Präventionsforschung und Sozialmedizin, Bremen
  • Karin Bammann - Bremer Institut für Präventionsforschung und Sozialmedizin, Bremen
  • Iris Pigeot - Bremer Institut für Präventionsforschung und Sozialmedizin, Bremen
  • Wolfgang Ahrens - Bremer Institut für Präventionsforschung und Sozialmedizin, Bremen

Mainz//2011. 56. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Medizinische Informatik, Biometrie und Epidemiologie (gmds), 6. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Epidemiologie (DGEpi). Mainz, 26.-29.09.2011. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2011. Doc11gmds286

doi: 10.3205/11gmds286, urn:nbn:de:0183-11gmds2864

Veröffentlicht: 20. September 2011

© 2011 Günther et al.
Dieser Artikel ist ein Open Access-Artikel und steht unter den Creative Commons Lizenzbedingungen (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.de). Er darf vervielfältigt, verbreitet und öffentlich zugänglich gemacht werden, vorausgesetzt dass Autor und Quelle genannt werden.


Gliederung

Text

Background: Several studies reported that besides the prevention of obesity, the improvement of physical fitness (PF) and physical activity (PA) plays an essential role to prevent metabolic disorders. The influence of genetic, lifestyle and/or environmental factors on PF measured by maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) has been of investigated across different disciplines with ambiguous results. The aim of this study is to test for familial aggregation of PF and to estimate its heritability. Furthermore, an analysis of the association between overweight/obesity and PF was performed. In contrast to other studies all analyses are adjusted for additional environmental factors as e.g. PA or smoking behaviour.

Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted, enrolling 295 participants in Northern Germany. PF was assessed by a maximum exercise test performed by spiroergometry on a stationary bicycle, PA was measured over seven days using a uniaxial accelerometer, quantified as average time in moderate to vigorous PA per day. Familial aggregation was determined by a two-step design: PF was adjusted using linear regression and the related residuals were used to determine the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) applying ANOVA. Associations between PF and overweight/obesity were calculated by generalized linear mixed models in a logistic design where families were included as clusters. Overall, 79 families, consisting of 158 adults (aged 30-54 years) and 137 children (74 boys, aged 5-17 years; 63 girls, aged 6-17 years), were enrolled in the study.

Results: Familial aggregation of PF is significant (ICC=0.22, adjusted for age and sex, p<0.001). ICC decreases to 15% when PF was additionally adjusted for PA, BMI and smoking household. This means that the variation within families compared to the variation between families increases. The heritability of PF is estimated as 41% (p=0.001, adjusted for age and sex) and as 37% (p=0.002, adjusted for age, sex and PA) using the mid parents-offspring design, which takes the mean PF values of both parents into account. Moreover, we found that the effect of PF on overweight/obesity within families is only seen among individuals who are fitter than average.

Conclusions: PF clusters in families but variation within families increases after controlling for PA, weight status and parental smoking. Investigation of the association between overweight/obesity and PF revealed that higher PF is protective for overweight/obesity irrespective of PA.