Comparison of cardiorespiratory fitness between preschool girls and boys in Tehran city

Poster Presentation
Paper ID : 2063-SSRC
Authors
Department of Exercise Physiology, Sport Sciences Research Institute, Tehran, Iran.
Abstract
Background: Cardiorespiratory fitness is a strong indicator of present and future health in children and adolescents; however, research is limited in preschool children. Cardiorespiratory fitness is considered one of the important indicators related to health, can act as a protection to reduce the harmful effects of fat on the body. In this regard, various studies have shown that high levels of cardiorespiratory fitness in childhood are related to a decrease in the probability of overweight and obesity in adulthood.
Purpose: This study aimed to measurement of cardiorespiratory fitness and its compare cardiorespiratory fitness preschool girls and boys in Tehran.
Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 591 children aged five and six years in Tehran (standing height: 115.64± 5.13 cm, body mass: 21.00 ± 3.83 kg, body mass index: 15.66 ± 1.94 (kg/m2) were selected as the study sample. Cardiorespiratory fitness was measured by a 20 m shuttle test. Data were analyzed by independent t-test at the significant level of P <0.05 using SPSS 22 software.
Results: The results showed that: The mean and standard deviation of covered distance at 20 m shuttle run test for boys and girls were 145.60 ± 68.16 and 126.51 ± 59.96 m, respectively. The mean and standard deviation of Vo2max for boys and girls were 47.29 ± 2.11 and 46.89 ± 1.99 ml/kg/min, respectively.
Conclusion: finding of this study was that boys showed better performance than girls did in the cardiorespiratory fitness test (p<0.05). These findings emphasize on the importance of planning to improve musculoskeletal fitness as an intervention for promoting physical activity level and preventing the development of obesity in preschool children.
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