Effects of exercise training program on carotid intima-media thickness and brachial artery endothelium-dependent flow mediated vasodilation in obese adolescents

Effects of exercise training program on carotid intima-media thickness and brachial artery endothelium-dependent flow mediated vasodilation in obese adolescents. The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of exercise training program on vascular structure and function in obese adolescents. Twenty obese adolescents (age 13-14 years, male, body mass index 303kg/m 2 ) were randomly assigned to an exercise training group (n=10) and a non-exercise control group (n=10). The subjects in the exercise training group performed supervised aerobic exercise programs with moderate intensity for 12 weeks, 60-90 minutes per session, 3 times per week. Brachial artery flow mediated vasodilatation and common carotid artery intima-media thickness(CIMT) were measured using B-mode ultrasound. There were significant decrease in body weight (p=0.001), % body fat (p=0.004), waist circumference (p=0.001) and increase in cardiorespiratory fitness (p=0.001) after 12 weeks exercise program. Maximal CIMT(p=0.043), but not mean CIMT(p=0.220), and brachial artery flow-mediated vasodilation (p=0.001) were significantly improved in the exercise group compared with the control group, while lipid profile and insulin resistance were not significantly improved in the exercise group. These data indicate that 12 weeks exercise training program reduced body weight, improved cardiorespiratory fitness and vascular structure/function in obese adolescents.