TY - JOUR
TI - Obesity and physical fitness indices of children aged 5-12 years living
on remote and isolated islands
AU - Koulouvaris, Panagiotis
AU - Tsolakis, Charilaos
AU - Tsekouras, Yiannis
AU - E.
AU - Donti, Olyvia
AU - Papagelopoulos, Panayiotis J.
JO - Rural and Remote Health
PY - 2018
VL - 18
TODO - 2
SP - null
PB - COLL MEDICINE & DENTISTRY JAMES COOK UNIV TOWNSVILLE
SN - null
TODO - 10.22605/RRH4452
TODO - obesity; BMI; children; physical activity; Greece
TODO - Introduction: Obesity has become one of the major health risks in
childhood, significantly affecting children’s health and physical
fitness. Although the marked increase of obesity in urban areas is well
established, evidence is limited in remote and isolated areas with
adverse socioeconomic features. The aim of this study was to examine the
prevalence of obesity and its association with physical performance
indices in young school-aged children living in 18 remote and isolated
Greek islands.
Methods: Four hundred and sixty-three children (244 boys, 219 girls),
aged 5-12 years underwent a series of physical fitness tests including
20 m sprint, standing long jump, 1 kg medicine ball throw, agility
T-test and sit-and-reach test. Age and gender BMI cut-off points were
determined according to World Health Organisation (WHO) norms.
Results: The prevalence of obesity was 23.8% and 13.2% for boys and
girls, respectively. A negative body mass index (BMI) main effect was
observed for weight-bearing activities, such as 20 m sprint (F=6.21,
p=0.000, eta(2)=0.041) and standing long jump (F=11.369, p=0.000,
eta(2)=0.074), while medicine ball throw was positively correlated with
BMI in children aged 9-12 years.
Conclusion: The results of this study confirmed previous findings on
obesity prevalence in Greece. A negative association was also found
between BMI and physical fitness indices and, in particular, in weight
-bearing activities. It is critical to establish physical education
interventions and physical fitness programs at schools, aiming to
increase motivation for physical activity participation.
ER -