RESUMEN
Chest deformities in children with scoliosis may result in cardiopulmonary disorders, lowering cardiopulmonary capacity levels. However, results regarding the dependence of cardiopulmonary capacity on the severity level of scoliosis remain controversial. We aimed to use dynamic cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) to investigate exercise capacity in reference to spinal deformity in patients with mild or moderate idiopathic scoliosis by means of multivariate analyses. Methods: We included 92 children and adolescents aged 10-17 years with mild and moderate idiopathic scoliosis and 94 healthy peers. The study consisted of three parts: (1) medical record analyses; (2) anthropometric measurements; and (3) CPET. Results: Our results revealed that the mean VO2peak and VO2peak/kg values of the participants with scoliosis were 0.27 L/min and 0.37 mL/min/kg lower than their healthy peers, respectively, regardless of age and gender. Furthermore, the occurrence of scoliosis correlates with a mean decrease in minute ventilation volume by 10.10 L/min, tidal volume by 0.11 L, breathing frequency by 3.78 bpm, and breathing reserve by 14.34%, regardless of the age and gender of the participants. Children and adolescents with mild-to-moderate scoliosis during CPET exhibit a lower ventilation capacity and lower VO2 max than healthy adolescents matched in age but their cardiorespiratory fitness parameters do not depend on the Cobb angle value and the angle rotation of the primary spinal curvature. Conclusions: Physical therapy and activity should be recommended to prevent cardiorespiratory failure in later life in patients with scoliosis. This study may also provide CPET reference values for healthy children and adolescents with scoliosis.
RESUMEN
(1) Background: Excessive body weight is a global problem in the 21st century. Children and adolescents, in particular, are at risk. Recently, there has been an increasing interest in the relationship between aerobic capacity and body composition. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the association between the individual parameters of cardiopulmonary capacity obtained in cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) and selected parameters of body mass composition in high-BMI children and children over the 85th percentile according to the WHO growth reference. (2) Materials and Method: The research included 100 children of school-age (7-15 years) with an excessive BMI, i.e., over the 85th percentile as per the WHO Growth Reference (BMI percentile 95.21 ± 4.65; Z-score BMI: 2.07 ± 0.94). The study consisted of three parts: anthropometric measurements, measurement of body mass composition using a body composition analyzer (TANITA MC-780 S MA) using the bioimpedance method, and a cardiopulmonary exercise test on a pediatric cycle ergometer (Corival Pediatric, Lode BV) using the Godfrey protocol; (3) Results: The correlation between BMI and fat mass (FM) was very high (rho = 0.83; p = 0.00) with moderate body fat percentage (BF%) (rho = 0.48; p = 0.00). There was a relevant correlation between the amount of fat-free mass in total body mass and cardiopulmonary capacity expressed as the absolute aerobic capacity (VO2peak) (rho = 0.55; p = 0.00). (4) Conclusions: In the case of children and youth with higher BMI, there was a correlation between the amount of fat-free mass in total body mass and cardiopulmonary capacity in terms of absolute aerobic capacity.