Association between body mass index and cardiorespiratory fitness as predictor of health status in schoolchildren

ObjectiveEvaluate the cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and the body mass index (BMI) of schoolchildren according to the cutoff points established by the Fitnessgram®. Just as determine the influence of BMI on CRF in children and propose an equation for predicting VO2max from the body composition.MethodThe sample consisted of 288 students of basic level of public education in the city of Aracaju – Sergipe – Brazil, aged between 10 and 14 years, of these, 142 were female. To evaluate the CRF the 20-m shuttle run test was chosen. The results of the variable were classified in accordance with the criteria established by the Fitnessgram®.ResultsIt was evidenced that the cardiorespiratory fitness on males was higher than females. Relative to BMI, there were no differences between the groups, while more than 80% of the entire sample behaved within criteria established by the Fitnessgram®. On the other hand, 57% of the female group presented VO2max below criterion. It was confirmed an inverse relationship between VO2max and BMI on children and adolescents.ConclusionThe students in this study showed adequate levels of body composition and CRF below the area related to health, according to the criteria of the Fitnessgram®. The proposition of a linear regression equation to estimate VO2max without exercise pointed out an inverse relationship between both variables