Relationship between cardiorespiratory fitness, body composition and blood pressure in school children

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2002

Authors

guerra, s (Author) Other; ribeiro, jc (Author) FADEUP; costa, r (Author) Other; duarte, j (Author) FADEUP; mota, j (Author) FADEUP

Journal

Title: The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness

Vol. 42

Pages: 207-213

ISSN: 0022-4707

Publisher: EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 17 Citations

Scopus - 31 Citations

Scientific classification

FOS: Medical and Health sciences > Health sciences

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-000-P7K

Abstract (EN): Background. The purpose of this comparative and correlational cross-sectional study was to describe the associations between cardiorespiratory fitness, blood pressure and body composition in Portuguese school children. Methods. The sample comprised 529 children (246 males and 283 females) aged 8-15 years-old. Body height and body mass were determined by standard anthropometric methods. Blood pressures were measured with children sitting after at least 5 min rest. The maximal multistage 20 m shuttle run test was carried-out to predict maximal aerobic power. Results. The present study shows that boys were more fit (pless than or equal to0.05) and less fat than girls (pless than or equal to0.05). Multiple regression analysis reveals that weight and age explained significantly (pless than or equal to0.01) the amounts of systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP). In girls, percentage of fat (%F) showed an influence on the variance in SBP (4.9%, pless than or equal to0.05). In addition, weight (14.5%) and age (9.8%) account significantly (pless than or equal to0.01) for the amount of variance to DBP in males. For girls, age (11.4%) and BMI (2.4%) account significantly to the variance found in DBP However, the independent variables, for both sexes, account less than 50% of the overall variance found in blood pressures values. Conclusions. In conclusion, the present study shows that boys were more fit and had less fat than girls. The level of cardiorespiratory fitness does not seem to be an important correlate of blood pressure variation across age groups and gender.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 7