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Biomarkers of Physical Activity/health in Children and Adolescents

Identification and Validation of Integrative Biomarkers of Physical Activity Level and Health in Children and Adolescents

Status
Completed
Phases
NA
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT05907785
Acronym
INTEGRActiv
Enrollment
60
Registered
2023-06-18
Start date
2022-03-01
Completion date
2024-10-15
Last updated
2024-10-23

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Physical Activity

Keywords

Integration analysis, Cardiorespiratory fitness, Metabolomics, Transcriptomics, miRNome, Adipokines, Cytokines, Biomarkers

Brief summary

This clinical trial is aimed to recruit a core cohort of children and adolescents, and to perform an educational intervention and follow-up study in a subgroup of volunteers from this core cohort, to obtain specific measurements and samples of interest in these volunteers that will be used for identification and validation of the biomarkers of physical activity (PA) and health.

Detailed description

Physical activity (PA) provides health benefits across the lifespan and improves many established cardiovascular risk factors that have a significant impact on overall mortality. Childhood and adolescence are critical periods for life-time health; processes underlying cardiovascular diseases and obesity generally originate in early ages. However, it is not clear how PA links to different parameters of health. There is an important need to cover this critical gap and, more specifically, to have biomarkers allowing to relate the degree of PA with effects on health. INTEGRActiv addresses this new scientific and societal challenge by focusing on the identification of integrated markers reflecting both aspects - PA level and health - in children and adolescents, which represent an important target population to address personalized interventions to improve future, life long, metabolic health. Identification of new biomarkers will be achieved by combining measures of PA and cardiorespiratory and muscular fitness with anthropometric measures, cardiovascular risk factors and endocrine markers, cytokines, circulating miRNA, and gene expression profile in blood cells and metabolomics profile in plasma and blood cells. Following identification in a core cohort and data integration analysis, candidate biomarkers will be further assessed in core cohort subjects after educational intervention and in existing samples from other independent studies. INTEGRActiv encompasses relevant progress beyond the state-of-the-art for a) the definition of potential biomarkers for PA level in childhood and adolescence; b) the provision of relevant mechanistic information for the link between PA and metabolic health in youth subjects; c) the identification of factors such as age, gender, body weight, sleep behavior and puberal status that quantitatively affect biomarker responses; d) the use and development of new tools in biomarker research, including integrative analysis; e) further assessment and first-step validation of promising candidate biomarkers in an intervention study and other independent studies. It is expected that new identified robust biomarkers reflecting PA level and its relation with health will guide nutritional/life-style and clinical advice and public policies related to endorse biomarker- based personalised PA, with a better adherence and response, to promote health and prevent disease risk factors since early stages of life.

Interventions

BEHAVIORALEducational intervention

The intervention will consist of recommendations to improve physical activity (PA) and dietary habits. It is based on the PAIDO Programme (www.programapaido.es), an outpatient family-based multidisciplinary programme that combines PA, education on nutrition, and behavioural therapy. It will last 6 months and improvement of metabolic health and body weight loss is expected, particularly in the groups with overweight and obesity. The dietary intervention will be focused on the promotion of the Mediterranean diet, with follow-up and advice from a dietitian-nutritionist. Participants will be encouraged in reducing sedentary behaviour (watching television, playing computer games, playing board games). Performance of aerobic and strength physical exercises will be scheduled, progressively increasing the intensity. Volunteers and their parents will participate in monthly sessions to follow-up on adherence to the PA and dietary recommendations and give personalized advice.

Sponsors

Fundación de Investigación Hospital General Universitario de Valencia
CollaboratorUNKNOWN
Czech Academy of Sciences
CollaboratorOTHER
Aix Marseille Université
CollaboratorOTHER
Wageningen University
CollaboratorOTHER
Fundació d'investigació Sanitària de les Illes Balears
Lead SponsorOTHER_GOV

Study design

Allocation
NON_RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
NONE

Intervention model description

An educational intervention to improve physical activity and promote healthy dietary habits will be carried out in two groups of children/adolescents: (1) a prepubertal group and (2) a postpubertal group. Within each group, there will be volunteers with normal weight (NW), overweight (OW), and obesity (OB). A total of 180 volunteers will be assessed for eligibility (90 for each group), and 60 of them (30 for each group) will be allocated to study (intervention study).

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
8 Years to 15 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

* Caucasian children/adolescents with age between 8-10 years for the prepubertal and 13-15 years for the postpubertal groups * BMI z-score between those established by the World Health Organization for the subgroups with NW, OW or OB

Exclusion criteria

* Children/adolescents with reported pathologies * Clinical recommendations against performance of physical activity * Presence of eating disorders

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
BMI Z-scoreBaseline (all groups)BMI z-score will be calculated from height and weight data, considering age and sex, following World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines.

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
HeightBaseline (all groups)Height (m)
Waist circumferenceBaseline (all groups)Waist circumference (cm)
Body compositionBaseline (all groups)Lean and fat mass (in %) measured using bioimpedance
Blood pressureBaseline (all groups)Systolic and diastolic pressure will be measured (mm Hg)
Handgrip strengthBaseline (all groups)Handgrip strength from right and left hands (Kg). This measure will be used, together with standing broad jump tests to assess musculoskeletal fitness.
Standing long jumpBaseline (all groups)Standing long jump (cm). This measure will be used, together with handgrip strenght to assess musculoskeletal fitness.
Cardiorespiratory Fitness (CRF)Baseline (all groups)CRF will be measured as maximal oxygen consumption (V̇O2max) from cardiopulmonary exercise testing, using a treadmill test and the Balke protocol
Change in the level of physical activity (PA) during 6 months evaluated by accelerometryChange from baseline in physical activity at 6 months (all groups)Different intensities of PA will be measured during one week before (baselline) and after the intervention (6 months) using accelerometry (actigraph GTX3+)
Adherence to the Mediterranean dietBaseline (all groups)Adherence to the Mediterranean diet will be evaluated using the KIDMED, Mediterranean Diet Quality Index in children and adolescents. Score: 0-12. Value of the KIDMED score: ≤3, very-low-quality diet; 4-7, need to improve the food pattern to adjust it to the Mediterranean one; ≥8, optimal Mediterranean diet.
Physical activity (PA) levelBaseline (all groups)PA level will be evaluated using the Questionnaire for Older Children (PAQ-C) and for Adolescents (PAQ-A); score: 0-5 for different levels of PA (no units).
Sedentary behaviourBaseline (all groups)Sedentary behaviour will be evaluated using a Screen Time Questionnaire (STQ). The total screen hours will ba obtained by measuring: hours of daily TV, weekend TV, daily Computer, weekend computer, daily videogames, weekend videogames, daily free internet, weekend free internet, daily study internet, weekend study internet, and weekend study.
Sleep habitsBaseline (all groups)Sleep habits will be evaluated using the Pediatric Sleep Questionnaire (PSQ) (no units).
WeightBaseline (all groups)Weight (kg)
Eating disorders- DEBQ QuestionnaireBaseline (all groups)Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire for Children (DEBQ-C). Units: DEBQ score. The questionnaire measures three eating behaviors: emotional, external and restrained.
Plasma glucoseBaseline (all groups)Gucose (mg/dL)
Plasma insulinBaseline (all groups)Insulin (mg/dL)
Plasma triglycerides (TG)Baseline (all groups)TG (mg/dL)
Plasma total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C)Baseline (all groups)Total cholesterol, HDL-C and LDL-C (mg/dL)
Plasma uric acidBaseline (all groups)Uric acid (mg/dL)
Plasma creatinineBaseline (all groups)Creatinine (mg/dL)
Insulin resistanceBaseline (all groups)Insulin resistance will be assessed by the homeostatic model assessment (HOMA) index
Analysis of additional circulating metabolitesBaseline (all groups)Metabolites (including myokines and adipokines) will be assessed using commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA)
Transcriptome analysisBaseline (all groups)Transcriptome analysis will be performed with RNA Sequencing (RNA-Seq) using next-generation sequencing platforms in peripheral blood cells (PBC)
Circulating miRNABaseline (all groups)Circulating miRNA will be analysed using miRCURY LNA miRNA miRNome PCR Panels (Qiagen)
Evaluation of metabolomics and lipidomicsBaseline (all groups)Untargeted and targeted metabolomics and lipidomics will also be performed in plasma using liquid chromatography - mass spectrometry-based (LC-MS) methods.
Eating disorders - SCOFF QuestionnaireBaseline (all groups)SCOFF questionnaire for the screening of eating disorders in primary care. Units: SCOFF score. Score\>2, positive screening

Countries

Spain

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 10, 2026