Establishing modified Canadian Aerobic Fitness Test (mCAFT) cut-points to detect clustered cardiometabolic risk among Canadian children and youth aged 9 to 17 years

The objective of this study was to establish cut-points to identify potential clustered cardiometabolic risk among children (aged 9–13 years) and youth (aged 14–17 years) using the modified Canadian Aerobic Fitness Test (mCAFT). Nationally representative cross-sectional data were obtained from cycles 1 and 2 (2007–2011) of the Canadian Health Measures Survey. Cardiorespiratory fitness was measured using the mCAFT, which was used to estimate peak oxygen consumption. Clustered cardiometabolic health was identified as the mean of 4 standardized variables: sum of 4 skinfolds; total cholesterol–to–high-density lipoprotein ratio; and systolic and diastolic blood pressure. In total, 2106 (49% female) participants were retained for this analysis. The optimal mCAFT cut-point for males was 49 and 46 mL·kg–1·min–1 among children and youth, respectively. Among females, the mCAFT cut-point was 46 and 37 mL·kg–1·min–1 among children and youth, respectively. In 2016–2017, 83% of females and 71% of males met the new mCAFT cut-points. The mCAFT cut-points can help identify children and youth at potential risk of poor cardiometabolic health in public health surveillance, clinical, and school-based settings. Novelty We developed new mCAFT cut-points to identify potential clustered cardiometabolic risk among Canadian children and youth. These mCAFT cut-points can be used to inform national health surveillance efforts.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author