The association of adolescent fitness with cardiometabolic diseases in late adulthood: A 45-year longitudinal study Laakso, Perttu T. T. Ortega Porcel, Francisco Bartolomé Adolescence Cardiometabolic disease Cohort study Longitudinal Physical fitness This work was supported by Emil Aaltonen Foundation under Grant 210097 O, Ellen ja Artturi Nyyssönen Foundation, and Juho Vainio Foundation under Grant 202300290. Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine the associations of adolescent cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), muscular fitness (MF), and speed-agility fitness (SA) with middle-aged cardiometabolic disease risk and explore sex differences. Methods: This 45-year prospective cohort study examined the associations be- tween objectively measured fitness at adolescence (12–19 years) and physician- ascertained diabetes mellitus, elevated blood pressure (BP), and coronary heart disease reported either in early (37–44 years) or late (57–64 years) middle age, and self-measurement of waist circumference (WC) in late middle age. Fitness meas- urements for healthy adolescents in baseline included CRF (1.5 km [girls] and 2 km [boys] run), MF (standing broad jump, sit-ups, pull-ups [boys], and flexed- arm hang [girls]), and SA (50 m dash and 4 × 10 m shuttle run). Logistic regression and general linear models were adjusted for baseline age, sex, and body mass index (BMI), involving data from baseline and at least one follow-up measure- ment (N up to 1358, 47% males). Results: Adolescent CRF was inversely, and regardless of adiposity, associ- ated with middle age accumulated burden of cardiometabolic conditions in the whole sample (N = 562, ß = −0.10, 95% confidence intervals [CI] [−0.18, −0.03], p = 0.006), and elevated BP in females (N = 256, OR = 0.71, 95% CI [0.51, 0.91]). Overall, we observed stronger associations in females than in males. An inverse association of adolescent MF and SA with middle-aged WC was observed, but it did not show as consistent associations as with CRF. Conclusions: In this study, adolescent fitness, particularly CRF, was inversely as- sociated with the burden of cardiometabolic conditions up to 45 years. Promotion of fitness in youth may be beneficial in preventing adulthood cardiometabolic diseases. 2023-11-29T09:40:43Z 2023-11-29T09:40:43Z 2023-10-31 journal article Laakso PTT, Ortega FB, Huotari P, Tolvanen AJ, Kujala UM, Jaakkola TT. The association of adolescent fitness with cardiometabolic diseases in late adulthood: A 45-year longitudinal study. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2023;00:1-11. [doi: 10.1111/sms.14529] https://hdl.handle.net/10481/85916 10.1111/sms.14529 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ open access Atribución 4.0 Internacional Wiley