From U Basel-Switzerland: BMI group-related differences in physical fitness and physical activity in preschool-age children

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22428407

Res Q Exerc Sport. 2012 Mar;83(1):12-9.

BMI group-related differences in physical fitness and physical activity in preschool-age children: a cross-sectional analysis.

Niederer I, Kriemler S, Zahner L, Bürgi F, Ebenegger V, Marques P, Puder JJ.

Source

Institute of Exercise and Health Sciences, University of Basel, Switzerland. iris.niederer@unibas.ch

Abstract

In the Ballabeina study, we investigated age- and BMI-group-related differences in aerobic fitness (20 m shuttle run), agility (obstacle course), dynamic (balance beam) and static balance (balance platform), and physical activity (PA, accelerometers) in 613 children (M age = 5.1 years, SD = 0.6). Normal weight (NW) children performed better than overweight (OW) children in aerobic fitness, agility, and dynamic balance (all p <.001), while OWchildren had a better static balance (p < .001). BMI-group-related differences in aerobic fitness and agility were larger in older children (p for interaction with age = .01) in favor of the NW children. PA did not differ between NW and OW (p > or = .1), but did differ between NW and obese children (p < .05). BMI-group-related differences in physical fitness can already be present in preschool-age children.