Descriptive characteristics of the population sample
| Boys (n=1138) | Girls (n=1060) | p Value | |||
| Mean | SD | Mean | SD | ||
| Age (years) | 10.8 | 3.4 | 10.9 | 3.3 | 0.449 |
| Tanner stage (n (%)) | 0.010 | ||||
| 1 | 321 (27.6) | 329 (30.4) | |||
| 2 | 303 (26.1) | 233 (21.4) | |||
| 3 | 195 (16.8) | 250 (23.0) | |||
| 4 | 190 (16.3) | 216 (19.9) | |||
| 5 | 129 (11.0) | 32 (2.9) | |||
| Body mass (kg) | 42.8 | 17.4 | 41.2 | 16.1 | 0.018 |
| Height (cm) | 144.8 | 19.9 | 142.8 | 17.0 | 0.014 |
| BMI (kg/m2) | 19.5 | 3.7 | 19.5 | 3.6 | 0.895 |
| Neck circumference (cm) | 30.0 | 3.6 | 28.5 | 2.7 | <0.001 |
| Waist circumference (cm) | 64.7 | 9.9 | 62.2 | 8.6 | <0.001 |
| Waist-to-height ratio (cm) | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.4 | 0.0 | <0.001 |
| Body fat (%) | 19.9 | 10.3 | 23.7 | 7.6 | <0.001 |
| FMI | 9.9 | 5.1 | 11.8 | 3.9 | <0.001 |
| VO2max (mL/kg/min) | 38.4 | 6.7 | 32.3 | 7.7 | <0.001 |
| Systolic blood pressure (mm Hg) | 106.7 | 13.1 | 103,5 | 11.1 | <0.001 |
| Diastolic blood pressure (mm Hg) | 65.6 | 8.1 | 67.0 | 8.7 | <0.001 |
| Boys (n=270) | Girls (n=244) | p Value | |||
| TC/HDL-c (mg/dL) | 2.9 | 0.6 | 3.0 | 0.7 | 0.214 |
| LDL-c (mg/dL) | 70.9 | 23.4 | 73.4 | 23.4 | 0.221 |
| Triglycerides (mg/dL) | 48.1 | 30.7 | 52.5 | 25.5 | 0.085 |
| Insulin resistance (HOMA score)* | 2.1 | 2.1 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 0.047 |
| C reactive protein (mg/dL)* | 8.8 | 20.5 | 9.9 | 23.1 | 0.828 |
| C-3 protein (mg/dL) | 93.4 | 31.0 | 93.7 | 28.7 | 0.903 |
| C-4 protein (mg/dL) | 20.3 | 9.9 | 20.4 | 9.8 | 0.944 |
| Interleukin-6 (pg/mL) | 34.4 | 37.5 | 43.0 | 62.1 | 0.061 |
| Leptin (ng/mL) | 6.7 | 6.7 | 11.7 | 9.2 | <0.001 |
| Adiponectin (µg/mL) | 13.3 | 7.2 | 14.8 | 7.5 | 0.023 |
| TNF-α (pg/mL)* | 77.1 | 66.2 | 72.8 | 57.1 | 0.445 |
| Visfatin (ng/mL)* | 1.5 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 1.2 | 0.589 |
| Cardiovascular risk score | 0.05 | 1.0 | −0.07 | 1.0 | 0.269 |
Results are showed as mean±SD (SD).
Sex differences with a p value of <0.05 are marked as bold.
*32.7%, 38.7%, 16% and 37% of insulin, C reactive protein, TNF-α and visfatin sample, respectively, were below detection threshold and were not included in the analyses.
VO2max , maximum oxygen consumption; BMI, body mass index; FMI, fat mass index; HOMA, homoeostasis model assessment; LDL, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol; TC/HDL, total cholesterol/ high-density lipoprotein cholesterol; TNF-α, tumour necrosis factor alpha. VO2max, maximum oxygen consumption.