Effect of Gender on Blood Biomarkers and Adipokines After an Individualized Training Program in Obese Young Adolescents

Mohamed Sami Zguira*,**, Bianca Miarka***, Nicola Luigi Bragazzi****,*****,******,# , Zouhair Tabka**

*Higher Institute of Sport and Physical Education of Gafsa, Gafsa 2100, Tunisia - **Department of Physiology and Lung Function Testing, UR12ES06, Physiopathology and exercise physiology : from the integrated to the molecular « Biology, Medicine and health » Faculty of Medicine Sousse, University of Sousse, Sousse 4000, Tunisia - ***Postgraduate Program in Physical Education, School of Physical Education and Sports, Department of Fights. Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, 22640-105, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - ****Postgraduate School of Public Health, Department of Health Sciences (DISSAL), Genoa University, Genoa 16132, Italy - *****Department of Neuroscience, Rehabilitation, Ophthalmology, Genetics, Maternal and Child Health (DINOGMI), Section of Psychiatry, Genoa University, Genoa 16132, Italy - ******Laboratory for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (LIAM), Department of Mathematics and Statistics, York University, 4700 Keele St, Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3, Canada

Obesity is one of the major public health concerns of the 21st century that can be defined as a result of the interplay of energy imbalance, excess of calories and lack of exercise. The purpose of the present study was to assess the effects of an individualized physical training program on blood biomarkers and adipokines in obese adolescents, adopting a gender perspective. Fifty obese adolescents (38 female and 12 male subjects) aged between 11 and 18 years (mean age 13.8±2.9 and 13.4±2.3, respectively) participated in this study. Anthropometric characteristics and blood biomarkers were assessed before and after 8 weeks of a program of individualized and personalized physical training. Females seemed to show a greater decrease in glucose and leptin levels when compared to males (all, at p<0.05). Adiponectin concentration was higher in males than females (at p<0.001). We can conclude that individualized training program clearly has an impact on weight loss, glycemic control, and certain cardiovascular measures in both sexes. However, females tended to have greater reduction in glucose and leptin, while males had greater improvements in adiponectin. These findings could pave the way for an ad hoc gender-based interventional program for counteracting and mitigating obesity and its related pathologies.