After-School Exercise Increases Endothelial Progenitor Cells in Overweight and Obese Children

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of an after-school exercise programme on endothelial progenitor cells in overweight and obese children. Total of 29 overweight/obese children were randomly divided into the control (i.e., no after-school exercise, n = 14) or after-school exercise (n = 15) groups. The 12-week afterschool exercise intervention consisted of 3 days of combined aerobic and resistance exercise per week. Each 80-minute exercise programme included 10 minutes of warm-up and 10 minutes of cool-down after school. Increased percentages of CD34+, CD133+ and CD34+/CD133+ were observed in the after-school exercise group (p = 0.018; p = 0.001; p = 0.002, respectively) compared with the control group. Carotid intima-media thickness decreased after 12 weeks in the after-school exercise group (p = 0.020) compared with the control group.