Physical activity, aerobic fitness and fatness in preadolescent children

Abstract

The relationships between aerobic fitness, physical activity, and body fatness were evaluated in a sample of 223 preadolescent children (119 boys, mean age 8.3 ±1.7 yrs; 104 girls, mean age 8.1 ± 1.9 yrs). Aerobic fitness was assessed by 20m shuttle test. Physical activity level was assessed using the seven‐day physical activity recall. The sum of five skinfolds was used as measure of body fatness. Moderate negative zero order correlation coefficients between aerobic fitness and fatness were obtained in boys (r = ‐0.39) and girls (r = ‐0.52). Controlling the effect of physical growth resulted in a significant inverse relationship between aerobic fitness and fatness. Moderate to vigorous physical activity score was significantly related with aerobic fitness in both boys and girls (r = 0.40 and 0.53, respectively). Analysis of data across fatness quartiles revealed a significant difference in aerobic fitness and in both total as well as moderate to vigorous physical activity where the leanest subject was si...