Influence of body fat and level of physical activity on rate-pressure product at rest in preschool children.

Objective: The rate-pressure product (RPP) has strong correlation with the maximal oxygen consumption and is an indicator of myocardium stress being considered as the best indirect method to measure myocardial oxygen consumption. However, to the best of our knowledge, no studies have addressed in preschool children. The aim of this study was to analyze the influence of percentage of body fat (%BF) and physical activity (PA) patterns on RPP at Rest (RPPrest) as a marker of cardiac load in Preschool children.

Methods: The study comprised 593 preschool children aged 3-6 years-old. Heart rate (HR), systolic (SBP), and diastolic (DBP) blood pressure were taken at rest. The RPP was then calculated. The %BF was estimated from four skinfolds thicknesses and PA was assessed during 7 consecutive days by accelerometry.

Results: Our data showed that only %BF (P ≤ 0.001) and vigorous PA (P ≤ 0.05) contributed significantly toward RPPrest variation. However, the multivariate analysis showed that only %BF (P ≤ 0.05) had a significant influence on RPPrest variation.

Conclusion: These findings suggest that on preschoolers there is an association between RPP at rest and %BF.