Francisco B Ortega

University of Granada | UGR · Departamento de Educación Física y Deportiva

Background Understanding the association of different fitness components with brain structure, and further, how possible fitness‐related brain associations relate to executive function is important for developing public health strategies to improve the health and wellbeing of elderly adults worldwide. Thus, we aimed to investigate the association o...

We examined the effects of a 20-week exercise intervention on whole-blood genome-wide DNA methylation signature and its association with the exercise-induced changes in gene expression profiles in boys and girls with overweight/obesity (OW/OB). Twenty-three children (10.05 ± 1.39 years, 56% girls) with OW/OB, were randomized to either a 20-week exe...

INTRODUCTION: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a leading cause of disability worldwide. Alterations in cerebral blood flow (CBF) and AD blood biomarkers are fundamental at early stages of AD. Exercise shows promise in delaying physiological changes, but its mechanisms for enhancing brain health remains unclear. FlADex aims to examine the acute effects o...

Physical activity measured by accelerometry (PA-accelerometry) is used as an indicator of physical capacity in chronic diseases. Currently, only fragmented age ranges of reference percentile curves are available for European children and adolescents. This study aimed to provide age- and sex-specific percentiles for physical activity measured by hip...

Background: The importance of adolescent cardiorespiratory fitness for long-term risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D) remains poorly investigated, and whether the association is influenced by unobserved familial confounding is unknown. Methods: We conducted a sibling-controlled cohort study based on all Swedish men who participated in mandatory military...

Norm-referenced tests compare individuals to a group. While norms are often presented in tables and graphs, exact score evaluation relies on model parameters, often undisclosed. These models, like those from the R gamlss package, include individual data protected by law and consent, hindering full transparency. Thus, this paper proposes standards f...

CONTEXT Mixed evidence exists on whether physical exercise interventions influence intelligence measures in children and adolescents. OBJECTIVE To determine the effect of exercise interventions on intelligence in children and adolescents. DATA SOURCES Relevant articles were identified in PubMed, Web of Science, PsycINFO, and Scopus (until Februar...

The aim of the study is to investigate the association of cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and muscular strength indicators with gray matter volume (GMV) and to study whether fitness‐related regions of GMV are associated to executive function (EF) in cognitively normal older adults. Ninety‐one cognitively normal older adults (71.69 ± 3.91 years; 57....

Introduction Patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) have a higher risk of developing cognitive impairment and mental health disorders compared to the general population. Physical exercise might improve their brain health. The overall goal of the HEART-BRAIN randomized controlled trial (RCT) is to investigate the effects of different types of e...

Background High sedentary times (ST) is highly prevalent in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD), highlighting the need for behavioural change interventions that effectively reduce ST. We examined the immediate and medium-term effect of the SIT LESS intervention on changes in ST among CAD patients enrolled in cardiac rehabilitation (CR). Me...

Introduction Physical fitness is an important indicator of health in children. Accurately monitoring child and adolescent physical fitness is critical when designing effective public health interventions and strategies. This article aims to provide an overview of the FitBack platform and the health-related criteria that support the reporting system...

Context Exercise reduces adiposity, but its influence on bone marrow fat fraction (BMFF) is unknown; nor is it known whether a reduction in liver fat content mediates this reduction. Objectives This work aimed to determine whether incorporating exercise into a lifestyle program reduces the lumbar spine (LS) BMFF and to investigate whether changes...

Background We assessed the effects of a 20‐week combined (aerobic and resistance) exercise training programme on the inflammatory profile of prepubertal children with overweight or obesity. Methods Totally 109 participants (10.1 ± 1.1 years, 41% girls) were randomly allocated to an exercise or control group. Adiponectin, C‐reactive protein, epider...

Objective Children with overweight/obesity (OW/OB) exhibit poor cardiometabolic health, yet mechanisms influencing brain health remain unclear. We examined the differences in neurological‐related circulating proteins in plasma among children with metabolically healthy obesity (MHO) and metabolically unhealthy obesity (MUO) and the association with...

PURPOSE Physical activity measured by accelerometry (PA-accelerometry) is used as an indicator of disease severity in chronic diseases. Currently, only fragmented age ranges of reference percentile curves are available for European children. This study aimed to provide age- and sex-specific percentiles for physical activity measured by hip-worn acc...

Objective: To investigate whether the higher risks of certain cancers associated with high cardiorespiratory fitness can be explained by increased detection and unobserved confounders. Design: Nationwide sibling-controlled cohort study of adolescents. Setting: Sweden. Participants: 1 124 049 men of which 477 453 were full siblings, who underwent ma...

The beneficial effects of physical activity (PA) on gut microbiome have been reported, nevertheless the findings are inconsistent, with the main limitation of subjective methods for assessing PA. It is well accepted that using an objective assessment of PA reduces the measurement error and also allows objective assessment of sedentary behavior (SB)...

Background Handgrip strength has been related with multiple health outcomes, including all-cause mortality and morbidity. Handgrip testing is a highly valid and reliable method, included in evidence-based fitness test batteries from preschool to older ages. Previously, Jamar and TKK dynamometers have shown good reliability and validity against know...

Background Children with overweight/obesity often exhibit alterations in their plasma protein profiles and reduced heart rate variability (HRV). Plasma proteomics is at the forefront of identifying biomarkers for various clinical conditions. We aimed to examine the association between plasma‐targeted proteomics involved in cardiovascular health and...

Background: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is crucial for brain health, and exercise has been shown to boost its levels. However, the impact of exercise on BDNF on apparently healthy participants, studied exclusively through randomized controlled trials (RCTs), remains unclear. We conducted a systematic-review and multilevel meta-analyses...

Introduction Patients with coronary artery disease (CAD), also called coronary heart disease, have a higher risk of developing cognitive impairment and mental health disorders compared to the general population. There is a need to identify effective and sustainable strategies to improve brain health in individuals with CAD, in which physical exerci...

Depression is common in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but preventive behavioural interventions are lacking. This randomised controlled, pilot phase-IIa trial aimed to study a physical exercise intervention (EI) and bright light therapy (BLT)—both implemented and monitored in an individual, naturalistic setting via a mobile health...

Objective To examine and summarise evidence from meta-analyses of cohort studies that evaluated the predictive associations between baseline cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and health outcomes among adults. Design Overview of systematic reviews. Data source Five bibliographic databases were searched from January 2002 to March 2024. Results From...

Objectives To examine the relationship between sleep and subcortical brain structures using a shape analysis approach. Methods A total of 98 children with overweight/obesity (10.0 ± 1.1 y, 59 boys) were included in the cross-sectional analyses. Sleep behaviors (i.e., wake time, sleep onset time, total time in bed, total sleep time, sleep efficienc...

Objective To examine the associations between muscular strength and mental health. Design We used baseline data of 91 cognitively healthy older adults (71.69 ± 3.91 years old, 57 % women) participating in the AGUEDA randomized controlled trial. Methods Muscular strength was assessed using both objective (i.e., handgrip strength, biceps curl, squa...

Background Providing individual‐ and population‐level data on children's physical fitness (PF) is a crucial public health and education priority. However, few national fitness monitoring or surveillance systems are currently in practice internationally. We aim to summarize the current European PF monitoring and surveillance systems for school‐aged...

Importance Although research indicates that low fitness in youth is associated with a higher risk of chronic disability in men, the association of fitness in adolescence with work ability in working men and women remains unknown. Objective To examine the associations of adolescent health-related physical fitness with future work ability. Design,...

Objectives To examine the associations between physical fitness in male adolescents and coronary and carotid atherosclerosis in middle age. Methods This population-based cohort study linked physical fitness data from the Swedish Military Conscription Register during adolescence to atherosclerosis data from the Swedish CArdioPulmonary bioImage Stud...

Purpose We aimed to examine the associations of 24-hour movement behaviors (moderate-to-vigorous physical activity [MVPA], light physical activity [LPA], sedentary behavior [SB] and sleep) with age-, sex- and race-specific areal bone mineral density (aBMD) Z-score parameters at clinical sites in young pediatric cancer survivors. Methods This cross...

The beneficial effects of physical activity (PA) on gut microbiome have been reported, nevertheless the findings are inconsistent, with the main limitation of subjective methods for assessing PA. It is well-accepted that using an objective assessment of PA reduces the measurement error and allows also objective assessment of sedentary behavior (SB)...

Background There is a subset of individuals with overweight/obesity characterized by a lower risk of cardiometabolic complications, the so-called metabolically healthy overweight/obesity (MHOO) phenotype. Despite the relatively higher levels of subcutaneous adipose tissue and lower visceral adipose tissue observed in individuals with MHOO than indi...

Background Emerging research supports the idea that physical activity benefits brain development. However, the body of evidence focused on understanding the effects of physical activity on white matter microstructure during childhood is still in its infancy, and further well-designed randomized clinical trials are needed. Aim This study aimed: (i)...

Background The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that, by 2050, the world’s population over the age of 65 will reach 71 million, and in turn, there is a clear trend of increasing numbers of older adults with some form of mental illness. Indeed, over 21% of older people are affected by mental disorders (e.g., depression or anxiety). Favorabl...

Objective The objective of this study was to examine the chronic effects of a 20‐week exercise training program on device‐assessed sleep and sleep‐disordered breathing; and to determine whether participating in a session of the exercise program had effects on device‐assessed sleep the subsequent night in children with overweight/obesity. Methods A...

Purpose To compare the strength of associations between different indices of cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and brain health outcomes in children with overweight/obesity. Methods Participants were 100 children aged 8–11 years. CRF was assessed using treadmill exercise test (peak oxygen uptake [V̇O2peak], treadmill time, and V̇O2 at ventilatory th...

Background: The aims of this study were to investigate the association of early life factors, including birth weight, birth length, and breastfeeding practices, with structural brain networks; and to test whether structural brain networks associated with early life factors were also associated with academic performance in children with overweight/...

Background: Accumulation of amyloid-β (Aβ) plaques is one of the main features of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Physical performance has been related to dementia risk and Aβ, and it has been hypothesized as one of the mechanisms leading to greater accumulation of Aβ. Yet, no evidence synthesis has been performed in humans. Objective: To investigate...

Excessive adolescent sedentary behaviors (SBs) may affect cognitive-academic achievements; however, findings vary according to the SB evaluated and their mental requirements. This study aimed to understand the multi- variate association between different SBs and diverse cognitive-academic achievements as a primary analysis. As a secondary one, we d...

Importance Cardiovascular risk factors in youth have been associated with future cardiovascular disease (CVD), but conventional observational studies are vulnerable to genetic and environmental confounding. Objective To examine the role of genetic and environmental factors shared by full siblings in the association of adolescent cardiovascular ris...

Objectives The aim of this study was to examine the associations of adolescent cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), muscular fitness (MF), and speed‐agility fitness (SA) with middle‐aged cardiometabolic disease risk and explore sex differences. Methods This 45‐year prospective cohort study examined the associations between objectively measured fitness...

Concurrent training has been postulated as an appropriate time‐efficient strategy to improve physical fitness, yet whether the exercise‐induced adaptations are similar in men and women is unknown. An unblinded randomized controlled trial was conducted to investigate sex‐specific dose–response effects of a 24‐week supervised concurrent exercise trai...

Objectives The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of a 20-week exercise program on bone mineral parameters in children with overweight or obesity. Design Randomized controlled trial. Methods This study took part from November 21, 2014, to June 30, 2016, in Granada, Spain. A secondary analysis of this parallel-group randomized control...

Objectives To provide a comprehensive CERT (Consensus on Exercise Reporting Template)-based description of the resistance exercise program implemented in the AGUEDA (Active Gains in brain Using Exercise During Aging) study, a randomized controlled trial investigating the effects of a 24-week supervised resistance exercise program on executive funct...

Background The current knowledge about the molecular mechanisms underlying the health benefits of exercise is still limited, especially in childhood. We set out to investigate the effects of a 20‐week exercise intervention on whole‐blood transcriptome profile (RNA‐seq) in children with overweight/obesity. Methods Twenty‐four children (10.21 ± 1.33...

Cardiorespiratory fitness is one of the most important markers of health. Several studies have demonstrated the relationship between cardiorespiratory fitness and brain functioning in healthy children. Some of these works suggested that cardiorespiratory fitness may have a protective role on the executive function, which represents a set of cogniti...

Purpose Adequate skeletal loads during the adolescent growth spurt are elemental in building a robust skeleton. Adolescents with poorer motor competence are less active and develop a less robust skeleton compared to their peers with better develop motor competence. However, few longitudinal examinations of motor competence and skeletal loading thro...

Objective: To investigate whether a 20-week aerobic and resistance exercise program induces changes in brain current density underlying working memory and inhibitory control in children with overweight/obesity. Methods: A total of 67 children (10.00 ± 1.10 years) were randomized into an exercise or control group. Electroencephalography (EEG)-bas...

Background: The minimal and optimal daily step counts for health improvements remain unclear. Objectives: A meta-analysis was performed to quantify dose-response associations of objectively measured step count metrics in the general population. Methods: Electronic databases were searched from inception to October 2022. Primary outcomes include...

The present study aimed to investigate the effect of a 24-week aerobic + resistance training programs at moderate versus vigorous intensity on body composition, and the persistence of the changes after a 10-month free-living period, in young untrained adults. This report is based on a secondary analysis from the activating brown adipose tissue thro...

We investigated the interaction between a genetic score and an exercise intervention on brain health in children with overweight/obesity. One hundred one children with overweight/obesity (10.0 ± 1.5 years, 59% girls) were randomized into a 20-week combined exercise intervention or a control group. Several cognitive and academic outcomes were measur...

The objective of this longitudinal study was to analyze changes in physical activity, sedentary time, sleep, anxiety, mood, and perceived health as a result of COVID-19 pandemic in a cohort of Spanish university students, both during the home confinement and one year after. Additionally, we analyzed the associations between physical activity, seden...

Importance: Childhood obesity is a risk factor associated with type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and mental disorders later in life. Investigation of the parallel effects of a defined exercise program on cardiometabolic and mental health in children with overweight or obesity may provide new insights on the potential benefits of exercise on...

Background To quantify cardiovascular health (CVH), the American Heart Association (AHA) recently launched an updated construct of the “Life's Simple 7” (LS7) score, the “Life's Essential 8” (LE8) score. This study aims to analyse the association between both CVH scores and carotid artery plaques and to compare the predictive capacity of such score...

Providing individual- and population-level data on child physical fitness is a crucial public health and education priority, however, few national fitness monitoring, or surveillance systems are currently in practice globally. The FitBack network includes experts from diverse backgrounds with a common interest to improving the accessibility of phys...

Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: Public grant(s) – National budget only. Main funding source(s): - HEARTY-BRAIN - Effects of Exercise on Brain in Patients with Coronary Heart Disease: The Heart-Brain Connection. Andalusian Plan for Research Development and Innovation (PAIDI). University of Granada. Funding: 116.000 €. PI: F. Ortega...

Alzheimer’s disease is currently the leading cause of dementia and one of the most expensive, lethal and severe diseases worldwide. Age-related decline in executive function is widespread and plays a key role in subsequent dementia risk. Physical exercise has been proposed as one of the leading non-pharmaceutical approaches to improve executive fun...

Muscular strength has been positively associated with better brain health indicators during childhood obesity. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the positive impact of muscular strength in brain health are poorly understood. We aimed to study the association of muscular strength with neurology‐related circulating proteins in plasma in ch...

Objectives Fat depots localization has a critical role in the metabolic health status of adults. Nevertheless, whether that is also the case in children remains under‐studied. Therefore, the aims of this study were: (i) to examine the differences between metabolically healthy (MHO) and unhealthy (MUO) overweight/obesity phenotypes on specific abdom...

The background of this study is to examine the associations of individual and combined early morning patterns (i.e., active commuting to school, physical activity before school, having breakfast and good sleep) with white matter microstructure (WMM) and, whether the associated white mater microstructure outcomes were related to mental health outcom...

Objectives: (1) To develop reference values for health-related fitness in European children and adolescents aged 6–18 years that are the foundation for the web based, open-access and multi-language fitness platform (FitBack); (2) To provide comparisons across European countries. Methods: This study builds on a previous large fitness reference stud...

Background/Objectives: Cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is inversely associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors and brain health impairments. However, the molecular mechanisms linking CRF to health in children are poorly understood. We aimed to examine protein levels related to brain health and CVD in plasma of fit compared to unfit c...