The effects of 12-weeks aerobic exercise on catecholamine's levels, and cardiorespiratory fitness in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

The purpose of present study was to determine the effect of 12 weeks aerobic exercise on catecholamine’s levels and cardiorespiratory fitness in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The study presented is a quasi-experimental pre-test/post-test control group design. 60 school age boys children diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) through the Caners diagnostic questionnaire aged 8-11 years old volunteered to participate in the study and were selected randomly and assigned to control [n=30] and experimental [n=30] groups. The experimental group participated in an aerobic exercise program consisted of 45-min sessions for three days per week for 12 weeks at 60–85% of heart rate reserve. During this period, the control group did not participate in any regular physical activity program. Urine samples were collected for components of the catecholamines and peak O2 uptake was measured using the Bruce maximal progressive treadmill test for measuring cardiorespiratory fitness were administered to participants before and after the twelve week treatment. Data were analyzed using one-way repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA). After 12 weeks aerobic exercise training significantly increased peak O2 uptake and decreased rest heart rate and epinephrine in experimental group than control group (p<0.05). Despite significant decreased norepinephrine levels in experimental group (p<0.001), there were no differences in norepinephrine levels between the groups (p>0.05) after 12 weeks aerobic exercise training. The findings of this study suggest that a12 weeks aerobic exercise training program may be effective in improving catecholamine’s levels specially epinephrine and cardiorespiratory fitness of school age children with ADHD.