Body Fat Percentage and Level of Aerobic Capacity among Students from Upper Primary School

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in English; abstract also in Chinese. The rising standard of living in Malaysia has seen changes to its population. Obesity and other diseases of wealth are appearing in younger and younger people, resulting in the need for sports or exercise to stay fit and healthy. Studies have shown an inverse relationship between body fat percentage and aerobic capacity in children (Coleman et al., 2004). However, from the general studies, little is known specifically about Chinese primary school children. Therefore, this research aims to study the body fat and aerobic capacity of Chinese primary school children in Kajang, as possible representative of the national population. It will also ascertain whether there is any gender bias in the relationship. Two hundred and forty students were studied, from Years 4 and 5, equally divided between the sexes. The body fat percentage was determined using the skinfold method on the triceps and calf. After the fat measurement, the subjects were asked to perform the PACER bleep test to assess their aerobic capacity. The boys were found to be significantly superior in aerobic capacity (t = 1.35, p < 0.18) despite having higher body fiat. There was a low negative correlation between body fat and aerobic capacity (r = -0.28, n = 240, p < 0.01) among the children which was highly significant because of the large number of samples. In conclusion, 27.50% of the subjects were founds to have moderately high to very high percentage of body fat confirming the need to exercise to stay fit and healthy among this age group, especially among the boys. 馬來西亞的人口變化提高了人們的生活水準。肥胖和其他富貴疾病都出現于少年和年輕人導致人們必須多做運動來保持健壯-Coleman et. al., (2004)的研究證明了兒童的體脂肪率和有氧容量之間的相反關係。然而從一般上的研究在華小兒童兩者之間的關係明確少知。所以此探索的目的是研究在加影區某間華小兒童的體脂肪和有氧容量盡可能作為國家人口的代表性。借此也探知兩者之間的關係是否有任何性別偏見。研究中共有240位由4、5年級平分的男女學生參與。研究運用測量三肌肉及腓皮膚表層的方法來固定體脂肪率。測量脂肪後受試者需履行往返距離20米的PACER測驗來估算他們的有氧容量。儘管那些男生擁有較高的體脂肪他們卻有卓越顯著的有氧容量(t=1.35, p<0.18)。因為受試者的人數眾多有效的反映出兒童之間的體脂肪與有氧容量有低陰性關係(r=-0.28, n=240, p<0.01)。總結來説14.17%的受試者擁有高或很高的體脂肪率確認了這年齡的兒童特別是男生必需做運動來保持健壯。