Sports Injuries of a Portuguese Professional Football Team during Three Consecutive Seasons.

Professional football players are exposed to high injury risk due to the physical demands of this sport. The purpose of this study was to characterize the injuries of a professional football team in the First Portuguese League over three consecutive sports seasons. Seventy-one male professional football players in the First Portuguese Football League were followed throughout the sports seasons of 2019/2020, 2020/2021, and 2021/2022. In total, 84 injuries were recorded. Each player missed an average of 16.6 days per injury. Lower limbs were massively affected by injuries across all three seasons, mainly with muscular injuries in the quadriceps and hamstrings and sprains in the tibiotarsal structure. Overall, the injury incidence was considerably higher in matches than in training. The two times of the season that proved most conducive to injuries were the months of July and January. Our results emphasize the importance of monitoring sports performance, including injury occurrence, and assisting in identifying risk factors in professional football. Designing individualized training programs and optimizing prevention and recovery protocols are crucial for maximizing this global process.

The relation of education and cognitive activity to mini-mental state in old age: the role of functional fitness status.

It remains unclear so far whether the role of cognitive reserve for cognitive functioning in old age may differ between individuals with low, compared to those with high functional fitness status. Therefore, the present study set out to investigate the relation of education and cognitive leisure activity as key markers of cognitive reserve to mini-mental state in old age (as an indicator of the extent of cognitive impairment) and its interplay with functional fitness status in a large sample of older adults. We assessed MMSE in 701 older adults (M = 70.4 years, SD = 6.9, range: 60-91). We measured functional fitness status using the Senior Fitness Test battery and interviewed individuals on their education and cognitive leisure activity. Results showed that better functional fitness status, longer education, and greater engagement in cognitive leisure activity were significantly related to higher MMSE scores. Moderation analyses showed that the relations of education and cognitive leisure activity to MMSE scores were significantly larger in individuals with low, compared to those with high functional fitness status. In conclusion, cognitive functioning in old age may more strongly depend on cognitive reserve accumulated during the life course in older adults with low, compared to those with high functional fitness status. These findings may be explained by cross-domain compensation effects in vulnerable individuals and may (at least partly) account for the large variability in cognitive reserve-cognition relations debated in the literature.

Pulse pressure tracking from adolescence to young adulthood: contributions to vascular health.

PURPOSE: We examined whether exposure to high PP in adolescence predicts carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT) and stiffness indices at young adulthood. METHODS: Seventy-nine participants had their brachial systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood (DBP) pressures taken at the age of 15-16 years and later at young adulthood (29-31 years). Carotid IMT, distensibility and stiffness index ß were measured at young adulthood. Linear and logistical regression analysis were performed. RESULTS: PP at adolescence and at young adulthood predicted vascular health independently of sex, body mass index, and mean arterial pressure, explaining up to 37% of the variance. When analyzing its single constituents, at adolescence DBP was more predictive of vascular health, whereas DBP and SBP were equally important at young adulthood. Adolescents with high PP were at risk for increased carotid IMT (OR: 4.04-4.09), even if PP decreased at young adulthood. Young adults with high PP were at risk for increased stiffness regardless of adolescence PP (OR: 4.64-7.35). CONCLUSION: PP at adolescence and young adulthood may be a better predictor of early pathological changes in carotid artery structure and stiffness. Whereas carotid IMT in young adults appears to be influenced by PP at adolescence, carotid stiffness depends primarily on current PP.

The relationship of physical activity to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol level in a sample of community-dwelling older adults from Amazonas, Brazil.

OBJECTIVES: (1) To study the relation of physical activity (PA) to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and (2) to investigate if the strength of these associations holds after adjustments for sex, age, and other key correlates. METHODS: This study included 550 older adults from Amazonas. HDL-C was derived from fasting blood samples. PA at sport and leisure, smoking, alcohol consumption, and socioeconomic status (SES) were interviewed. Waist circumference (WACI) was assessed. RESULTS: HDL-C was positively related to PA sport, PA leisure, and SES (0.22≤r≤0.34; p≤0.001) and negatively related to smoking and WACI (r≤-0.10; p<0.05). Controlling for sex and age did not affect these relationships. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed that the relation of HDL-C to PA sport and leisure remained significant when controlling for all other investigated correlates (0.14≤ß≤0.24; p≤0.001). DISCUSSION: In order to prevent low HDL-C in older adults, promoting PA seems to be an important additional component besides common recommendations concerning weight reduction.

Sex specific association of physical activity on proximal femur BMD in 9 to 10 year-old children.

The results of physical activity (PA) intervention studies suggest that adaptation to mechanical loading at the femoral neck (FN) is weaker in girls than in boys. Less is known about gender differences associated with non-targeted PA levels at the FN or other clinically relevant regions of the proximal femur. Understanding sex-specific relationships between proximal femur sensitivity and mechanical loading during non-targeted PA is critical to planning appropriate public health interventions. We examined sex-specific associations between non-target PA and bone mineral density (BMD) of three sub-regions of the proximal femur in pre- and early-pubertal boys and girls. BMD at the FN, trochanter (TR) and intertrochanter (IT) regions, and lean mass of the whole body were assessed using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry in 161 girls (age: 9.7±0.3 yrs) and 164 boys (age: 9.7±0.3 yrs). PA was measured using accelerometry. Multiple linear regression analyses (adjusted for body height, total lean mass and pubertal status) revealed that vigorous PA explained 3-5% of the variability in BMD at all three sub-regions in boys. In girls, vigorous PA explained 4% of the variability in IT BMD and 6% in TR BMD. PA did not contribute to the variance in FN BMD in girls. An additional 10 minutes per day of vigorous PA would be expected to result in a ∼1% higher FN, TR, and IT BMD in boys (p<0.05) and a ∼2% higher IT and TR BMD in girls. In conclusion, vigorous PA can be expected to contribute positively to bone health outcomes for boys and girls. However, the association of vigorous PA to sub-regions of the proximal femur varies by sex, such that girls associations are heterogeneous and the lowest at the FN, but stronger at the TR and the IT, when compared to boys.

Changes in cardiorespiratory fitness predict changes in body composition from childhood to adolescence: findings from the European Youth Heart Study.

BACKGROUND: Several variables, such as waist circumference (WC) and trunk skinfolds (TS), are indicators of body fat. There is interest in evaluating the effect of cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) measures on changes in these markers from childhood to adolescence. PURPOSE: To examine CRF as a potential predictor of changes in body fat over an 8-year follow-up period in a pediatric population. METHODS: A cohort study of 86 children (44 girls, 42 boys) with a mean age of 9.8 ± 0.3 years who participated in the Portuguese arm of the European Youth Heart Study in 2000 completed a follow-up evaluation in 2008 at a mean age of 17.0 ± 0.4 years. Cardiorespiratory fitness, expressed as maximal oxygen consumption (VO2 max) (mL·kg(-1)·min(-1)), was assessed during an incremental multistage bicycle test to exhaustion. Physical activity (PA) was objectively measured by accelerometry at both periods of evaluation. Fat mass (FM) was assessed using anthropometric models, sum of TS, and WC. Changes were expressed as a percentage of the baseline value. Comparison of means and linear regression analysis were used for data analysis. RESULTS: While CRF significantly increased among boys (P < 0.05) and decreased in girls (P < 0.01), the percentage of body fat decreased over time in boys (P < 0.01) and increased among girls. Alone, CRF explained 39%, 26%, and 25% of the total variance in WC, FM, and TS, respectively (P < 0.01). Adjusting for PA, sex, and maturation changes, CRF remained a significant predictor of WC (ß = -0.335; P < 0.01), FM (ß = -2.084; P < 0.01), and TS (ß = -1.500; P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Changes in CRF are a significant predictor of changes in body fat percentage from childhood to adolescence. School-based PA interventions are encouraged to maintain or improve CRF from childhood and throughout adolescence to prevent increased percentages of body fat, particularly in the abdominal region.

Objectively measured time spent sedentary is associated with insulin resistance independent of overall and central body fat in 9- to 10-year-old Portuguese children.

OBJECTIVE: We examined the independent relationships between objectively measured physical activity and insulin resistance in Portuguese children. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: This is a school-based, cross-sectional study in 147 randomly selected girls (aged 9.8 +/- 0.3 years; 27.8 +/- 9.3% body fat) and 161 boys (aged 9.8 +/- 0.3 years; 22.0 +/- 9.2% body fat). Physical activity was assessed by the Actigraph accelerometer for 4 days and summarized as time spent sedentary (accelerometer counts <500/min), in light-intensity (accelerometer counts 500-2,000/min), and in moderate- and vigorous-intensity activity (accelerometer counts >2,001/min). We measured total and central fat mass by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Insulin resistance was expressed as the homeostasis model assessment score. RESULTS: Time (min/day) spent sedentary was significantly and positively associated with insulin resistance (beta-coefficient = 0.001 [95% CI 0.0002-0.002]; P = 0.013). Time spent in moderate- and vigorous-intensity physical activity (-0.002 [-0.003 to -0.001]; P = 0.0009) and overall physical activity (-0.001 [-0.008 to 0.003]; P < 0.0001) were significantly and inversely associated with insulin resistance. All associations remained statistically significant, although they were attenuated after further adjustments for sex, birth weight, sexual maturity, and total or central fat mass (P < 0.03). CONCLUSIONS: Physical activity is associated with insulin resistance independent of total and central fat mass in children. Our results emphasize the importance of decreasing sedentary behavior and increasing time spent in moderate- and vigorous-intensity activity in children, which may have beneficial effects on metabolic risk factors regardless of the degree of adiposity.