Background: interleukin-18, and C-Reactive protein (CRP) are two Cardio - Vascular risk factors that have been raised in recent years and independently show the risk of atherosclerosis. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of eight weeks roping on IL-18 and C-reactive protein in overweight and obese adolescents.
Material and Methods: This is a semi experimental study in which Thirty overweight or obese adolescents willing to cooperate voluntarily were randomly divided in two groups: experimental group ( 15 people, height 165.28 cm, weight 83.02 kg, age 13.73 years old and BMI 31.046) and control group (15 people, height 164.54 cm, weight 83.02 kg, age 13.93 years andBMI 30.404). Then, the experimental group was influenced by increasing roping exercise program which consisted of 8 sessions per week .While the control group received no intervention but were just followed. Variables including weight, body fat percentage, body mass index (BMI), VO2max were measured in both groups before and after exercises. Blood samples were collected in two stages, 48 hours before and after exercise to measure leukocytes, lymphocytes, neutrophils and levels of IL-18, CRP levels. Paired t-test was used for intergroup comparisons and two way variance analysis was used for comparison between two groups. All statistical calculations were
performed by SPSS software version 19.
Results: After eight weeks roping in within groups comparison the variables weight (P=0.001), BMI (P=0.001), percent body fat (P=0.001), IL-18 (P=0.001) and CRP (P=0.001) were significantly decreased but in between groups comparison with variance analysis the variables weight (P=0.501), BMI (P=0.257), percent body fat (P=0.068), had an insignificant decrease, IL-18 (p=0.001) and CRP (p=0.001) significantly decreased and V02max (P=0.009) significantly increased .
Conclusions: Based on these results, roping exercise reduced IL-18 and decreased inflammation in overweight and obese adolescents, so it would be possible and useful to perform this exercise to prevent and reduce atherosclerosis in obese adolescents.