Atividade física e maturação biológica: uma revisão sistemática

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the association between physical activity (PA) and biological maturation in children and adolescents. DATA SOURCE: We performed a systematic review in April 2013 in the electronic databases of PubMed/MEDLINE, SportDiscus, Web of Science and LILACS without time restrictions. A total of 628 potentially relevant articles were identified and 10 met the inclusion criteria for this review: cross-sectional or longitudinal studies, published in Portuguese, English or Spanish, with schoolchildren aged 9-15 years old of both genders. DATA SYNTHESIS: Despite the heterogeneity of the studies, there was an inverse association between PA and biological maturation. PA decreases with increased biological and chronological age in both genders. Boys tend to be more physically active than girls; however, when controlling for biological age, the gender differences disappear. The association between PA and timing of maturation varies between the genders. Variation in the timing of biological maturation affects the tracking of PA in early adolescent girls. This review suggests that mediators (BMI, depression, low self-esteem, and concerns about body weight) can explain the association between PA and biological maturation. CONCLUSIONS: There is an association between PA and biological maturation. PA decreases with increasing biological age with no differences between genders. As for the timing of biological maturation, this association varies between genders.

The Influence of 2-Year Changes in Physical Activity, Maturation, and Nutrition on Adiposity in Adolescent Youth

“…Late maturing adolescents reported lower levels of PA, but this difference was not statistically significant. Early maturing adolescents may in fact be more active than their less mature peers [9], but we could not confirm maturity as an important determinant of PA in other studies [7, 26, 41]. Nutrition was also not a determinant of the changes in PA in the present sample.…”

Comparison of lumbar force between pubertal and post-pubertal adolescents: interference of physical growth, body fat and lifestyle.

“…Peak height growth occurs approximately at the age of 14 years in boys, followed by peak muscle gain 27,28 . This occurs because during this period, the production of anabolic hormones testosterone and growth hormone (GH) are higher in post-pubertal boys, which leads to a greater amount of muscle mass and strength 11,17,27 . The difference in lumbar force performance between pubertal and post-pubertal boys was only identified after controlling BMI, SF, screen time and physical activity interference.…”

“…The literature reports that excess weight and body fat are directly associated with lower strength levels 8,29 . In addition, during adolescence, boys are more likely to engage in regular physical activity, and stimuli at muscle level resulting from the practice of physical activity lead to increased muscle strength levels, regardless of the natural changes that occur in body composition during adolescence 11,12,29,30 . Girls in the pubertal maturational stage presented higher values in the lumbar force test compared to girls in the postpubertal maturational stage, regardless of whether or not analyses were controlled by age, body mass, height, BMI, body fat, screen time and physical activity.…”

“…A possible justification for this fact would be related to decreased somatic growth and increased production of the estrogen hormone concomitant with the increased age of girls 27 , both of which increase body fat and decrease muscle strength levels 13,29 . In addition, sedentary behavior and physical inactivity are more prevalent in older girls than in boys, and such behaviors are directly associated with lower strength levels 11,12 . Thus, regardless of variables analyzed, pubertal girls tend to perform better in lumbar force tests compared to post-pubertal girls.…”

“…The justification for this interrelationship would be the reduction of growth rate and muscle development as a result of the interaction of adipose tissue with sex hormones (testosterone and estrogen) 10 , resulting in decreased muscle mass and strength 6,8 . In addition to the relationship between strength levels and biological variables, it has been well established in literature that the practice of physical activity and sedentary behavior influences on muscle strength 11,12 . Physical inactivity leads to less demand for stimuli to the skeletal muscles, which implies less development of muscle mass and strength 2,13 .…”