[Nutritional status and aerobic capacity among children attending public elementary schools in Chile]

The Chilean Ministry of Health has developed a health promotion program called "Vida Chile", whose aim is to target risk factors for chronic diseases. To achieve this, school-based initiatives in nutrition and physical activity have been implemented. The evaluation of these initiatives includes a baseline assessment of these two variables.

Baseline assessment of the nutritional status and aerobic capacity of elementary school children (1st to 8th grade).

Children from seven public schools were studied. Weight, height, triceps skinfold thickness and waist circumference were measured. To test the aerobic capacity, the 20-m Shuttle Run Test (Navette) was utilized.

The assessment included 4,271 children, mean age was 10.2 years. The percentile of body mass index, as compared to the CDC 2000 Reference was 67.8 +/- 26.7 and 68 +/- 26.7 for boys and girls, respectively. The prevalence of obesity among children from 6 to 8 years, was 20.3 and 17.7% for boys and girls, respectively. Approximately 30% of males and 15% of females with normal weight had a good aerobic resistance, compared to 15 and 4% of their overweight counterparts. Aerobic capacity decreased with increasing age.

There is a high prevalence of obesity and a deficient level of aerobic capacity among children attending public schools in Chile.