Effects of school physical education and aerobic training on risk factors of atherosclerosis in Beninese adolescents

Abstract

This study aimed at the effects of school physical education (SPE) and aerobic training pursued during 12 weeks, on the lipid profile in Beninese adolescents. One hundred and five (105) adolescents aged 13 to 18 years and living in the city of Porto-Novo served as the subjects. The group was randomly organized in three groups : a control group (G1 ; N = 24), a group (G2 ; N = 20) that was exposed to two weekly hours of SPE and a third group (G3 ; N = 61) that, in addition to the two weekly hours of SPE benefitted from a specific aerobic training (mixed programmes). Total cholesterol (TC), plasma triglyceride (TG), HDL - Cholesterol (HDL-C) and a Biologic Index of Atherogenicity (BIA) were assessed in all participants before and after a 12 week period. The results showed that twenty four hours of SPE at the rate of two weekly hours, didn't significantly impact the parameters studied in the G2 subjects (p> 0.05). However, the mixed programme significantly induced a decrease in HDL-C and an improvement of BIA in the adolescents (p < 0.05). The mixed programme did not significantly influence either TG or TC in the G3 subjects. It is concluded from the results that training at a high intensity is not favourable for improving atherosclerosis risk profile in the adolescent population of our study.

African Journal for Physical, Health Education, Recreation and Dance Vol. 13 (1) 2007: pp. 71-82