An extended follow-up study conducted at the University of Jyväskylä shows that low cardiorespiratory fitness in adolescence is associated with higher risk for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases in middle age. The study provides real-life evidence for the far-reaching consequences of deteriorating fitness in youth.

The 45-year study combined the same participants’ fitness test data from adolescence (12–19 years) with information on diabetes, hypertension, and coronary heart disease as well as self-measurements of waist circumference from the ages of 37 to 44 and/or 57 to 64 years. The associations of cardiorespiratory, muscular and speed-agility fitness with the health conditions were investigated separately and by combining the diseases and risk factors into a cardiometabolic risk score to indicate the burden of the conditions.
The results showed that low cardiorespiratory fitness in adolescence was associated with a higher burden of cardiometabolic conditions up to the age of 57 to 64 years. Moreover, in females, low adolescent cardiorespiratory fitness increased the risk of hypertension in middle age, and in males, low speed-agility was associated with increased waist circumference in late middle age.

Una ricerca internazionale che ha coinvolto l’Università Statale di Milano e l’IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano identifica una nuova causa predisponente alla formazione di aneurismi
dell’aorta toracica: un deficit di specifiche selenoproteine, provocato da un difetto ereditario, che porta dell’accumulo di stress ossidativo. Lo studio fornisce inoltre dati preliminari a supporto dell’efficacia di trattamenti preventivi a base di antiossidanti.
Pubblicato su Nature Communications uno studio internazionale che ha coinvolto l’Università Statale di Milano e l’IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano e che ha identificato una nuova causa predisponente alla formazione di pericolosi aneurismi dell’aorta toracica, come conseguenza dell’accumulo di stress ossidativo provocato da un difetto ereditario che comporta il deficit di specifiche selenoproteine (SeP). La ricerca si è avvalsa di dati raccolti in soggetti umani e in modelli murini e di zebrafish.