Revista de terapia de pérdida de peso y obesidad

Abstracto

Relationship between Physical Fitness and Nutritional Status in a Portuguese Sample of School Adolescents

Filipe Soares Ferreira

The presence of overweight and obesity in children and adolescents it’s real. Although there is a trend toward the decrease in physical fitness levels, the intensity of this decrease due to the nutritional status in adolescents is not well-known, particularly in school adolescents of inner Portuguese regions. The aim of this study is to describe physical fitness levels, nutritional status and analyze their association in school adolescents of Castelo Branco district, according to gender. Cardiorespiratory fitness (20 meters shuttle run test), muscular fitness (curl ups, pushups and back arch tests) and nutritional status (body mass index) were carried out in 924 school adolescents (429 males and 495 females) aged between 12 and 17 years old. Descriptive, correlation and covariance analyses were performed. The prevalence ratio was analyzed thought Poisson regression. For males and females, the overweight prevalence was 15.6% and 19.2%, respectively. Obesity prevalence was 5.1% for males and 3.8% for females. In both genders, low performances on cardiorespiratory and muscular fitness were found. Curl-ups and back-arch tests are in accordance to healthy fitness zone. Overweight and obese adolescents achieved low cardiorespiratory and muscular fitness levels. No differences were found on back-arch test between body mass status groups. Opposite correlations were found between physical fitness tests with BMI, excepting back-arch test. The prevalence ratios expose a strong trend toward the decrease of physical fitness tests in overweight and obese adolescents. Assessing physical fitness and nutritional status in school adolescents is essential to primary prevention of century diseases. This study alert health care professionals to find and promote solutions that lead young people to be more active and healthy.