Cardiorespiratory Fitness: Reference on the Six-Minute Walk Test and Oxygen Consumption in Adolescents from South-Central Chile

Abstract

Cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) provides oxygen to the exercising muscles and is related to body adiposity, with cardiometabolic variables. The aim was to develop reference values and a predictive model of CRF in Chilean adolescents. A total of 741 adolescents of both genders (15.7 years old) participated in a basic anthropometry, performance in the six-minute walk test (SMWT), and in Course Navette was measured. Percentiles were determined for the SMWT, for the V̇O2max, and an equation was developed to estimate it. The validity of the equation was checked using distribution assumptions and the Bland–Altman diagram. The STATA v.14 program was used (p < 0.05). The 50th percentile values for males and females in the SMWT and in the V̇O2max of Course Navette were, respectively, from 607 to 690 and from 630 to 641 m, and from 43.9 to 45 and from 37.5 to 31.5 mlO2·kg·min−1, for the range of 13 to 17 years. For its part, the model to predict V̇O2max incorporated gender, heart rate, height, waist-to-height ratio (WHR), and distance in the SMWT (R2 = 0.62; estimation error = 0.38 LO2·min−1; p <0.001). Reference values can guide physical fitness in Chilean adolescents, and V̇O2max was possible to predict from morphofunctional variables.