european college of sport science

08:30 - 10:00
Oral presentations
OP-HF06 Health and Fitness 6
THE DECLINE OF VO2MAX FROM 20 TO 84, THE HEALTH SURVEY OF NORD-TRØNDELAG
ASPENES, S., ULRIK, W.
NORWEGIAN UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
OP-HF06 Health and Fitness 6
Introduction: Maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) declines with increasing age in both men and women. In cross-sectional studies the
decrease has been found to range between 0.40-0.50 mL∙kg-1∙min-1∙year-1 in men and 0.20-0.35
mL∙kg-1∙min-1∙year-1 in women (Jackson et al., 1995). However, most studies use the term VO2peak thereby
indicating a submaximal measurement of oxygen uptake, or estimate aerobic capacity from an indirect measurement. We aim to investigate
the decline of true VO2max in a large population from measurements on treadmill.
Methods: As a part of the third part of the Health Survey of Nord-Trøndelag (HUNT3), 5641 healthy individuals between 20 and 93 was
recruited for testing maximal oxygen uptake. From these, 4060 individuals (2017 women and 2043 men, age 20 to 84) tested their maximal
oxygen uptake and during this test reached a respiratory quotient of 1.05 or more. The test was performed with the MetaMax2 and it
was brought out with an individualized protocol.
Normality was investigated by Q-Q-plot and histogram with normal distribution curve, and the regression of the relationship between
VO2max as dependent variable and age as the independent variable.
Results: VO2max declined from 54.3 ± 8.4 mL∙kg-1∙min-1 in the agegroup 20-29 years to 35.5 ± 6.8 mL∙kg-
1∙min-1 in the agegroup above 70 years in men and from 43.0 ± 7.6 mL∙kg-1∙min-1 in the agegroup 20-29 years
to 27.9 ± 5.1 mL∙kg-1∙min-1 in the agegroup above 70 years in women. The slope of regression was -0.379 with an R
squared of 0.308 in men, and the slope was -0.309 with an R squared of 0.288 in women. The regression was highly significant (p <
0.001) for both men and women. The decline in percent per decade is 9.6, 4.3, 10.1, 8.3 and 11.2 in men and 7.0, 4.8, 11.1, 9.2 and 12.4 in
women.
Discussion: The decline of 0.379 mL&#8729;kg-1&#8729;min-1&#8729;year-1 in men was slightly lower than earlier reports while the
decline of 0.309 mL&#8729;kg-1&#8729;min-1&#8729;year-1 in women was similar to earlier findings. The highly significant p-value of
the regression underlines the strength of the relationship while the low R squared indicate that age explains only 30.8% and 28.8% of the
decline in men and women, respectively.
The decline is not a steady one, comparing percents decline between decades suggest a decline of shifting steepness. A likely explanation
for these shifts is different patterns of physical activity. Unfortunately this was not studied this time in our study. We find that in a
healthy Norwegian population, the natural decline from age 20 will be approximately 0.7% per year in both men and women, but the
steepness of decline is shifting between the decades and the relationship between VO2max and physical activity should be investigated
further in our population.
References
Jackson AS, Wier LT, Ayers GW, Beard EF, Stuteville JE, Blair SN (1995) Med Sci Sports Exerc, 28(7), 884-891.
LONGITUDINAL PREVENTIVE-SCREENING CUTOFFS FOR METABOLIC SYNDROME IN ADOLESCENTS
BOUZIOTAS, C., FLOURIS, A.D., CHRISTODOULOS, A.D., KOUTEDAKIS, Y.
UNIVERSITY OF WOLVERHAMPTON
Introduction: The metabolic syndrome is highly prevalent within adults (Ford & Li 2008; Hu et al. 2004), whereas the coexistence of its
components becomes increasingly apparent in young populations (Steinberger & Daniels 2003), suggesting that the syndrome has its
roots early in life (Katzmarzyk et al. 2001). Therefore, it is necessary to introduce strong prevention strategies and comprehensive screening
in childhood and adolescence. The aim of the present study was to generate longitudinal preventive-screening cut-offs for the metabolic
syndrome in adolescents by detecting demarcation points in key and easy to monitor parameters that enable – as early as five
years in advance – the successful detection of metabolic syndrome that develops at the age of 17 years (MS17). The variables of interest
covered MS risk factors as well as fitness, habitual physical activity, and dietary elements.
Methods: The present study adopted a 6-year design incorporating 4 data collection time points (TPs). Volunteers were assessed prospectively
at the ages of 12, 13, 14 and 17. A total of 210, 204, 198 and 187 schoolchildren volunteered at the first (TP1=12 years old), second
(TP2=13 years old), third (TP3=14 years old) and fourth (TP4=17 years old), data collection TP, respectively. At each data collection TP,
anthropometrical, biological and lifestyle data were obtained. Identical protocols were used for each assessment conducted by the same
trained investigators. MS was defined using criteria analogous to the Adult Treatment Panel III definition (Alberti et al. 2006; De Ferranti et
al. 2004).
Results: 12% of the participants were diagnosed with MS17, the majority of them being boys (16% vs. 7%, p