School Based Exercise and Life Style Motivation Intervention (SEAL.MI) on Adolescent's Cardio Vascular Risk Factors and Academic Performance: Catch Them Young
Authors: Paulsamy Premalatha , Periannan Kalaiselvi , Easwaran Vigneshwaran , Abdulla Khan Noohu , Manoharan Vani , Venkatesan Krishnaraju , Qureshi Absar Ahmed , Prabahar Kousalya , Kandasamy Geetha , Vasudevan Rajalakshimi , Chidambaram Kumarappan , Pappiya Ester Mary , Venkatesan Kumar , Sethuraj Pranave 
Published: October 2021

There are evidences of shared biological mechanisms between obesity and hypertension during childhood in the adulthood, and loads of research literatures have proven that, it will cost the economies and health of nations profoundly if neglected. The Prevention and early diagnosis of cardiovascular risk factors such as overweight and hypertension is an essential strategy for control, effective treatment and prevention of its&rsquo; complications. The aim of the study is to assess the effect of school based Exercise and Life style Motivation Intervention (SEAL-MI) on adolescent's cardiovascular risk factors and academic performance. An experimental study was conducted among 1005 adolescents - 520 and 485 adolescents were randomly selected for control and study group, respectively. Demographic details and the data related to dietary habits, physical activity and sleep quality were collected by a structured interview questionnaire. The study group adolescents were given the SEAL-MI for six months which includes a school based rope exercise for 45 minutes per day for 5 days a week and a motivation intervention related to dietary habits, physical activity and sleep. Post-test 1 and 2 were done after 3 and 6 months of intervention. The prevalence of overweight among adolescents was 28.73% and prehypertension was 9.26%. Among overweight adolescents, the prevalence of prehypertension was found to be very high (32.25%). In post intervention, there was a significant reduction in weight, BP (p=0.000) and improvement in dietary habits, physical activity, sleep (p=0.000) and academic performance. A significant positive correlation was found between BMI and SBP (p=0.000) and BMI and academic performance (p=0.003). The linear regression analyses revealed that the gender (&szlig;: 0.47, 95% CI: 0.39, 0.81), age (&szlig;: 0.39, 95% CI: 0.17, 0.46), family income (&szlig;: 0.2, 95% CI: 0.41, 0.5), residence (&szlig;: 0.19, 95% CI: 0.01, 0.27) and type of family (&szlig;: 0.25, 95% CI: 0.39, 0.02) had the strongest correlate with the BMI of the adolescents. Also, Mother&rsquo;s education Mother&rsquo;s education (&szlig;: 0.35, 95% CI: 0.18, 0.59) had the strongest correlate with the SBP of the adolescents. In contrast, the DBP was negatively persuaded by age (&szlig;: -0.36, 95% CI: 1.54, 0.29) and gender (&szlig;: -0.26, 95% CI: 1.34, 0.12) of the adolescents. Regular practice of rope exercise and lifestyle modification such as diet, physical activity and sleep quality among adolescents prevent and control childhood CVD risk factors like overweight, hypertension. The SEAL-MI may lead to age appropriate development of adolescents and improves their academic performance and quality of life. Giving importance to the adolescents from urban habitat, from affluent nuclear family and catching them young will bring significant change in the disease burden.