Health-related physical fitness and sociodemographic factors: a study with schoolchildren from Santa Cruz do Sul - RS

Abstract

The present cross-sectional study aims to verify a possible association between health-related physical fitness indicators and sociodemographic factors in schoolchildren of Santa Cruz do Sul - RS. The subjects investigated were 1,254 schoolchildren (686 females) aged between 7 and 17 years from rural and urban schools. Evaluation of children’s and adolescents’ physical fitness and health was performed by the following tests (recommended by Sport Brazil Project): abdominal resistance, flexibility, body mass index (BMI) and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF). The results show, with respect to flexibility, that being within a health risk zone is more prevalent among male students (PR: 1.15; p<0.001), adolescents (PR: 1.04; p=0.042), and residents of the periphery (PR: 1.05; p=0.022) and C socioeconomic class (PR: 1.05; p=0.029). Regarding abdominal resistance, health risk is more prevalent among male students (PR: 1.13; p<0.001) and in students from municipal schools (PR: 1.09; p=0.084). For CRF, health risk is lower for male students (PR: 0.95; p=0.004 but higher for adolescents (PR: 1.08 p=0.001), and central region (PR: 1.08; p=0.014) and periphery residents (PR: 1.09; p<0,001). In relation to BMI, we found that the prevalence of overweight/obesity is higher among male students (PR: 1.06; p=0.005) and lower in adolescents (PR: 0.89; p<0.001). We evaluated health-related physical fitness levels in schoolchildren from Santa Cruz do Sul and concluded that there is a difference according to sociodemographic factors, especially between males and females.