Acute aerobic exercise as a biomodulator of atherogenic index of plasma in apparently healthy Nigerian undergraduate students

Abstract

This was a cross-sectional study carried out on apparently healthy students of University of Ilorin students. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a leading cause of death now in developing countries including Nigeria. Atherogenic Index of Plasma (AIP) correlated well with high predictive value of CVD, but there is paucity of data relating acute aerobic exercise on AIP in our environment. This study aimed
at finding the relationship if any between different stages of aerobic exercise and atherogenic index of plasma. A total of 40 apparently healthy male students aged between 18 and 25 years were recruited for the study. Their vital parameters and blood samples for lipid profile were taken before commencement of exercise, immediately post exercise and 15minutes post exercise. Fasting Total cholesterol (TC) triglycerides (TGs), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels were measured. Statistical analysis was done using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS version 20.0). There was statistically significant increase in the mean value of HDL-C with different stages of aerobic exercise while a significant decrease in mean values of triglycerides, AIP and weight at p-value of 0.003, 0.000 and 0.000 respectively at different stages of the exercise were observed.
The current study revealed that exercise had the potential to reduce the risk of cardiovascular events in sedentary non-obese young males who seek to lead a physically active lifestyle. The correlation between stages of aerobic with atherogenic index of plasma brought to the fore the role of short time aerobic exercise in mitigating against CVD.