Association between weight status and indices of physical fitness in children with simple obesity: A cross sectional observational study.

Abstract

Background: Obesity is considered to impact physical and cardio-respiratory fitness in children. There is scarce data on indices of physical fitness in Indian children with simple obesity even as they are at an increased risk for metabolic complications at lower body mass index (BMI) than their Western counterparts. We aimed to determine the effects of weight status on indices of physical fitness in North Indian children with simple obesity. Methods: Vital parameters such as blood pressure, pulse rate, respiratory rate, and rate of perceived exertion were measured before and after the six-minute walk test (6MWT) in obese children (BMI ≥95th percentile) (Group 2, n=70) aged 5-15 years and were compared to non-obese children (BMI 25th to 75th percentile) (Group 1, n=70). President's Challenge Fitness test was used to measure the physical fitness of each subject. Results: The mean age, weight and BMI of children in Group 1 and Group 2 were 9.07±2.88 and 8.93±3.13, 27.42±12.08 and 48.87±17.89 and 16.54±4.26 and 27.30±5.2, respectively. The mean blood pressure recorded before 6MWT was similar in the two groups but pulse rate, respiratory rate, and rate of perceived exertion were higher in Group 2. Children in Group 2 also showed significant elevation of vital parameters compared to Group 1 after the 6MWT. Additionally, children in Group 2 performed poorly in all the physical fitness parameters compared to those in Group 1 following the President’s Challenge Fitness test. Conclusions: Children with obesity showed several alterations in vital parameters and indices of physical fitness. Further studies are required to access the effect of interventions aimed at improving the physical fitness in children with obesity.