Physical Activity and Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Children from 4 to 9 Years of Age Delisle Nyström, Christine Hidalgo Migueles, Jairo Henriksson, Pontus Löf, Marie Accelerometry Cardiometabolic Children Vigorous physical activity Open access funding provided by Karolinska Institute. The MINISTOP project was funded by the Swedish Research Council (project no. 2012–2883, Marie Löf), the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare (2012–0906, Marie Löf; 2021-00036, Jairo H Migueles), Bo and Vera Axson Johnsons Foundation (Marie Löf), Karolinska Institutet (Marie Löf), and the Joanna Cocozza Foundation (Marie Löf). Background Physical activity guidelines for children encourage moderate-to-vigorous intensity activities (MVPA); however, some studies have found that only vigorous intensity activities (VPA) might promote health benefits in young children. Thus, the aim of this study is to investigate cross-sectional and 5-year longitudinal associations of VPA and MVPA with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in childhood using compositional data analysis. Results This study utilized data from the SPINACH study (n = 411). Physical activity was measured with accelerometers at 4- and 9-years of age. CVD risk factors were measured at 9-years of age, and included blood pressure (BP), lipid metabolism, and glucose metabolism biomarkers, as well as a continuous metabolic syndrome risk score (MetS). Cross-sectional and longitudinal linear regression models were built using compositional data analysis standards. Cross-sectionally, reallocating time to VPA from lower-intensity behaviours at 9-years was associated with lower waist circumference (B = − 3.219, P = 0.002), diastolic BP (B = − 1.836, P = 0.036), triglycerides (B = − 0.214, P < 0.001), glucose (B = − 0.189, P = 0.033), insulin (B = − 2.997, P < 0.001), and HOMA-IR (B = − 0.778, P < 0.001). Similarly, reallocating time to VPA at 4-years was associated with lower MetS (B = − 0.831, P = 0.049), waist circumference (B = − 4.211, P = 0.015), systolic BP (B = − 5.572, P = 0.015), diastolic BP (B = − 2.931, P = 0.044), triglycerides (B = − 0.229, P = 0.034), glucose (B = − 0.325, P = 0.032), insulin (B = − 5.114, P = 0.001), and HOMA-IR (B = − 0.673, P = 0.001) at 9-years. Reallocations of time to MVPA at 4- or 9-years were not associated with CVD risk factors at 9-years. Conclusions VPA was associated with CVD risk factors in children both cross-sectionally (9-years) and longitudinally (at 4- and 9-years). MVPA seemed not to be a stimulus of enough intensity to trigger these potential cardiometabolic benefits in healthy children. Thus, these findings suggest the importance of higher intensity activities, i.e., VPA already in early childhood for cardiometabolic health. 2023-12-19T12:34:16Z 2023-12-19T12:34:16Z 2023-09-24 journal article Delisle Nyström, C., Migueles, J.H., Henriksson, P. et al. Physical Activity and Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Children from 4 to 9 Years of Age. Sports Med - Open 9, 99 (2023). [https://doi.org/10.1186/s40798-023-00647-8] https://hdl.handle.net/10481/86347 10.1186/s40798-023-00647-8 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ open access Atribución 4.0 Internacional Springer Nature