The Relationship of Cardiorespiratory Fitness, Birth Weight and Parental BMI on Children’ Obesity Status

Abstract

The aim of the study was to determine the differences in cardiorespiratory fitness, parents’ body mass index, birth weight between a group of children with normal and overweight / obesity and to determine how much the studied variables affect the risk of their biological offspring being overweight. The research was conducted on a sample of 1096 respondents, aged 6 to 10 years, randomly drawn from several primary schools in the Skopje region. The sample is divided into two sub-samples according to gender, 496 male respondents and 600 female respondents. Cardiorespiratory fitness was assessed with the 20m shuttle run test according to the procedures described in FITNESSGRAM. The children were classified into two groups, based on the percentages of the body mass index, according to the IOTF standard. The birth weight of the children was assessed from the pediatric records of each child at birth. The condition of overweight / obese parents was defined according to the classification of the World Health Organization. Data on the education of parents (especially mothers and fathers) were collected through a questionnaire.. The prevalence of overweight and obesity in this study was 22.6% and 14.9%, for the entire sample of respondents without statistically significant gender differences. The results of the research indicate the connection between obesity of parents and their children. Furthermore, the results suggest that low cardiorespiratory fitness and high birth weight are predictors of OV / OB in childhood.