Parental influence on children’s cardiometabolic risk factors and cardiorespiratory fitness

Abstract

The parental influence on children’s cardiometabolic risk factors (CMRF) and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) has been only marginally investigated. Hence, this study aimed to investigate whether parental CMRF and CRF were associated with those of their school-aged children. This cross-sectional analysis included 53 Italian school-children along with their parents. CMRF were assessed by measuring the waist circumference (WC) and by computing the waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), whereas CRF was estimated with the six-minute walking test (6MWT). A multiple stepwise backward elimination regression analysis was performed to investigate associations between parental and children’s features. Both parental WC and WHtR were associated with children’s ones (R2 = 0.28, p = .005; R2 = 0.18, p = .041). Maternal WC and WHtR strongly predicted primary-school children’s CMRF (R2 = 0.54, p = .005; R2 = 0.67, p = .001). No significant parental influence was observed for CRF. This study investigated, for the first time, the associations between parental CMRF and CRF, and those of their children. Our results suggest that children’s WC and WHtR, but not CRF, can be predicted by their parent’s parameters. Maternal CMRF may have a stronger influence on children’s ones, compared to fathers, particularly during primary-school years.