Cardiometabolic outcomes of youth participating in organized sport from childhood to early adolescence

PURPOSE: The aim is to determine trajectories of youth sports participation and their effect on adolescent cardiometabolic health. METHODS: We included data from waves four, five, and six of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children and the intermediary Child Health CheckPoint (CHCP) wave. Participants ( N = 1851) were 12.0 ± 0.4 yr old at the CHCP. We used latent class analysis to identify organized sport trajectories and conducted linear regressions to compare cardiometabolic risk score (CMRS; summative z scores for body mass index, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, high- and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, and glucose) between classes. Analyses were repeated for team and individual sports participation. Analyses were adjusted for sex, socioeconomic status, and sexual maturity. RESULTS: Four latent classes were identified, including consistent sport participants (65.2%), late uptakes (17.4%), dropouts (7.9%), and nonparticipants (9.6%). Dropouts had significantly worse CMRS ( β = 0.95; 95% confidence intervals (CIs), 0.06-1.85) than nonparticipants. For team and individual sport participation, five trajectories were identified. These included consistent participants in both team and individual sports (31.1%), consistent individual (18.2%), consistent team (18.6%), moving from individual to team (14.9%), and nonparticipants (17.3%). The unadjusted model showed significantly better CMRS for consistent participants in both sports ( β = - 0.62; 95% CIs, - 1.07 to - 0.17) and team sports ( β = - 0.53; 95% CIs, - 1.03 to - 0.04). Secondary outcomes generally showed no statistically significant findings. CONCLUSIONS: Sports dropout in early adolescence is associated with poorer CMRS, while consistent participation in team sport with or without individual sport is associated with better CMRS. Further research exploring associations between cardiometabolic health and sports dropout and strategies to improve youth sport retention should be prioritized.