The Effect Of Bmi And Waist Circumference On One-mile Run Performance In Sixth-graders

Abstract

Various measures of body size have been shown to influence other tests of health-related fitness. Body weight, body mass index, percent fat, waist and hip circumference may all be affected by an increase in body size. Performance on youth fitness tests of aerobic capacity may be adversely affected by recent trends suggesting an overall increase in overweight and obesity in children and adolescents. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to compare the influence of body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference on FITNESSGRAM® one-mile times in sixth-grade children. METHODS: Subjects were 528 sixth-grade boys and girls who completed each of the FITNESSGRAM® test components as a part of their yearly physical education assessment. In addition to height and weight, subjects were also measured for waist circumference (WC). The percent of these students meeting the FITNESSGRAM® age and gender criterion standards were 60% for BMI, and 35% for the one-mile run. RESULTS: The correlations between one-mile run versus BMI and WC were.48, p <.05, and.42, p <.05, respectively. The correlation between BMI and WC was.94, p <.05. Multiple regression indicated that BMI and gender accounted for 29% of the variation in one-mile run performance. WC and gender accounted for 26% of the variation in one-mile run performance. Logistic regression revealed that students who met the FITNESSGRAM® criterion standards for BMI were 5.5 times more likely to meet the criterion standards for the one-mile run than students who failed to meet the criterion standards for BMI. A decrease in BMI by one unit would increase the probability of meeting the FITNESSGRAM® criterion standards for the one-mile run by 17%. A decrease in WC by one inch would also increase the probability of meeting the FITNESSGRAM® criterion standards for the one-mile run by 17%. CONCLUSIONS: The influence of BMI on one-mile run performance is similar to that of WC. BMI and gender account for slightly greater variation in one-mile run performance than WC and gender. A decrease in BMI by one unit appears to have the same effect on passing the FITNESSGRAM® one-mile run criterion standards as a decrease of one inch in WC. These results suggests that interventions targeting weight loss also have the potential to improve performance on health-related youth fitness tests of cardiorespiratory function.