Can anthropometry and body composition explain physical fitness levels in school-aged children?

Chih Yu Hsu, Liang Sien Chen, I. Jen Chang, Wei Ching Fang, Sun Weng Huang, Rong Ho Lin, Steve Wen Neng Ueng, Hai Hua Chuang*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal Article peer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

Physical fitness (PF) is closely related to various health outcomes and quality of life among children. However, the associations between anthropometry, body composition (BC), and PF are not fully elucidated. This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the associations between demographic metrics (age, sex), anthropometric measures (body mass index z-score (BMI z-score) waist/height ratio (WHtR)), BC parameters (body-fat percentage (BF%), muscle weight), and PF levels (800-m run, sit-and-reach, 1-min sit-ups, standing long jump) in school-aged children. Continuous variables were dichotomized by median splits. The results of 180 girls and 180 boys (mean age: 10.0 ± 0.7 years; mean BMI z-score: 0.366 ± 1.216) were analyzed. Multivariable linear regressions revealed that BF% (regression coefficient (B) = 3.4, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 2.5–4.3) was independently correlated with the 800-m run. Sex (B = 4.6, 95% CI = 3.0–6.3), age (B = 3.1, 95% CI = 1.9–4.3), and BMI z-score (B = −0.7, 95% CI = −1.4–−0.1) were independently related to sit-and-reach. Age (B = 3.3, 95% CI = 2.0–4.7), BF% (B = −0.3, 95% CI = −0.4–−0.2), and muscle weight (B = 0.7, 95% CI = 0.2–1.2) were independently associated with 1-min sit-ups. In addition to demography, anthropometry and BC provided additional information concerning some PF levels in school-aged children. Weight management and PF promotion should be addressed simultaneously in terms of preventive medicine and health promotion for children.

Original languageEnglish
Article number460
JournalChildren
Volume8
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - 06 2021

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article.

Keywords

  • Anthropometry
  • Body composition
  • Children
  • Epidemiography
  • Physical fitness

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