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MAXIMAL OXYGEN UPTAKE IN RELATION TO AGE IN BLIND AND NORMAL BOYS AND GIRLS
Author(s) -
SUNDBERG S.
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
acta pædiatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/j.1651-2227.1982.tb09482.x
Subject(s) - medicine , normal values , bicycle ergometer , vo2 max , double blind , el niño , pediatrics , heart rate , placebo , blood pressure , alternative medicine , pathology
. Maximal oxygen uptake (VO 2 max) was measured in 180 children during exhaustive work on a bicycle ergometer. The material comprised 12 blind boys and 11 blind girls (8–14 years) as well as 82 normal boys and 75 normal girls (8–17 years). VO 2 max increased linearly with age in all four groups. In normal girls mature values were reached at the age of 14 years. Normal boys had significantly higher values than normal girls and their VO 2 max increased faster with age. No sex differences in VO 2 max were found in blind children. Normal children had significantly higher values than the blind. VO 2 max/kg was uninfluenced by age in three of the groups: 55, 45 and 37 ml/min/kg in normal boys, blind boys and blind girls, respectively. In normal girls VO 2 max/kg decreased with age from 51 to 42 ml/min/kg. Significant sex differences were found in both normal and blind children. VO 2 max/kg in blind boys was 82% of that of normal boys, while blind girls had significantly lower values than normal girls. Most of these differences were established already at the age of 8 years. It is concluded that the differences in maximal oxygen uptake between normal and blind children are to a high degree due to different levels of physical activity during early childhood.