Relacionamento entre estrutura e função muscular periférica, inflamação sistêmica e regulação autonômica na capacidade funcional de adultos obesos com ou sem distúrbios metabólicos

Obesity is considered a worldwide epidemic, exerting great impact on cardiometabolic morbidity and mortality. Obese individuals often present poor cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), altered cardiac autonomic modulation (CAM) and muscle functioning and, therefore a higher risk of developing physical disabilities and life-threatening events later in life. However, a subpopulation, the so-called "metabolically healthy obese," appears to be less likely to develop such impairments because of a more favorable metabolic profile, despite excessive body fat. In this context, we proposed the accomplishment of three observational and cross-sectional studies that could contribute to the comprehension of the global capacity and physiological responses in young adults aged 20 to 45 years when submitted to different exercise tests, including the cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPX), the gold standard method for evaluating CRF, and field functional tests, which are less costly and interesting because they mimic usual activities of daily living, such as the six-minute step test (6MST) (Study I) an the six-minute walking test (Study II). Thereafter (Studies II and III), we aimed to investigate whether there would be an influence of the metabolic profile, namely the association with Metabolic Syndrome (MetS), insulin resistance (IR) and systemic inflammation, in such clinical outcomes. The first study evaluated a sample composed only of sedentary normal-weight (NW) and obese (OB) women (n=31) to investigate the agreement between cardiorespiratory responses from the 6MST and CPX; to develop a predictive equation from the 6MST to estimate the maximal aerobic capacity (VO2peak in the CPX); and to investigate whether aerobic/functional capacities are related to muscle strength and power (knee extensor peak isokinetic/isometric torque, power and total work). We found that CRF, functional capacity (6MST), relative muscle strength and power were lower in OB than in NW women. We demonstrated that body mass index (BMI), age and performance ...