An Investigation of the Utility of Waist Circumference Predicting Cardiorespiratory Fitness in School Children: A Cross-Sectional Study

Maria Zadarko-Domaradzka, Marek Sobolewski, Edyta Nizioł-Babiarz, Zbigniew Barabasz, Krzysztof Warchoł, Klaudia Niewczas-Czarna and Emilian Zadarko ()
Additional contact information
Maria Zadarko-Domaradzka: Institute of Physical Culture Sciences, Medical College of Rzeszow University, 35-959 Rzeszow, Poland
Marek Sobolewski: Department of Quantitative Methods, Rzeszow University of Technology, 35-959 Rzeszow, Poland
Edyta Nizioł-Babiarz: Department of Physical Education, Carpathian State College in Krosno, 38-400 Krosno, Poland
Zbigniew Barabasz: Department of Physical Education, Carpathian State College in Krosno, 38-400 Krosno, Poland
Krzysztof Warchoł: Institute of Physical Culture Sciences, Medical College of Rzeszow University, 35-959 Rzeszow, Poland
Klaudia Niewczas-Czarna: Institute of Physical Culture Sciences, Medical College of Rzeszow University, 35-959 Rzeszow, Poland
Emilian Zadarko: Institute of Physical Culture Sciences, Medical College of Rzeszow University, 35-959 Rzeszow, Poland

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: The early identification of modifiable risk factors and their monitoring, also within school physical education (PE) classes, are becoming indispensable in the context of public health. The aim of this study was to test whether making use of waist circumference (WC) measurements increases the possibility of predicting the results of cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) in school-age children, as compared with body mass index (BMI) and other somatic indicators related to body fat. The cross-sectional study covered 190 children aged 10 to 15 years, participating in school PE classes. Body height (BH), body weight (BW), WC, hip circumference (HC) and percentage of body fat (BF%) were measured. BMI, waist to hip ratio (WHR) and waist to height ratio (WHtR) were calculated, and a CRF test was performed by means of a 20 m shuttle run test (20mSRT). The peak heart rate (HR peak ) of the children was also measured. The regression model that was developed showed that WC ( R 2 = 47.1%), beyond BF% ( R 2 = 50.3%) and WHtR ( R 2 = 50.0%), was a useful measure of CRF, and stronger than BMI ( R 2 = 45.8%) or WHR ( R 2 = 39.2%). The risk of obtaining the CRF result classified below a good level (below the percentile range of P60-P80) was significantly higher in children with a larger WC (odds ratio (OR) for the WC change of 1 cm equals 1.14 (95% CI: 1.09–1.20; p < 0.001)). The simplicity of measuring WC and the possibility of using this measurement in the calculation of WHtR with reference to CRF indicate its usefulness in the prophylactic exams of school children.

Keywords: risk factors; body composition; WC; CRF; health and well-being; prevention; H-RF (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/1/851/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/1/851/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:1:p:851-:d:1022969

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().