Obesity And Motor Abilities Of Primary School Children With Migration Background

Abstract

PURPOSE: Overweight and obesity in childhood is increasing worldwide while physical inactivity is decreasing steadily. The socio-economic status and migration background play important roles in this development. There is a need for drawing up effective strategies to prevent children from developing overweight. Within this paper the baseline datas of the URMEL-ICE-study were presented. METHODS: The URMEL-ICE-study is a randomized controlled intervention study for 1120 primary school children out of the region of Ulm, Germany, for primary prevention. Endpoints of the study are: anthropometric data (body height, body mass) and motor tests. For evaluating childrens' motor abilities eight standardized test items for assessing endurance performance, coordinative skills, physical strength, velocity and flexibility were combined. 1055 children (569 boys; 486 girls) took part in the baseline examination. The children were 7.5 ± 0.4 years old; 54% were boys, 46% girls. 27.6% of the children had a migration background. RESULTS: 13.7 % of the boys and 10.5% of the girls were overweight. Within the group of children with migration background 21.1% (boys) and 12.2% (girls) were overweight. 5.1% of the boys, 3.7% of the girls were obese; with migration background: 10.2% boys and 3.7% girls were obese. The children had disorders in all coordinative test items. Regarding the endurance performance and coordination skills children with a higher BMI-SDS produced the lowest results (p≤0,001). Children with migration background (n=283) achieved significantly lower scores in 7 out of 8 items of the motor tests than children without migration background (n=771). CONCLUSIONS: Boys with migration background have the highest risk for developing overweight and obesity. In Addition, children with migration background have lower motor skills and a higher risk to develop motor disorders than children without migration background. Children with a higher BMI are at a disadvantage regarding the endurance performance and coordinative abilities; there are no differences between weight classes regarding the physical strength.