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Reference values for maximum work capacity in relation to body composition in healthy Dutch children
V A Gulmans1, K de Meer, R A Binkhorst
1Dept of Pediatric Physiotherapy, University Hospital for Children, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Insights
Maximum workload in children is strongly linked to body weight and fat-free mass. New reference values for workload adjusted for body composition can aid in assessing exercise capacity in both healthy and sick children.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Exercise Physiology
- Sports Medicine
- Child Health
Background:
- Exercise performance is crucial for physical development in children.
- Assessing exercise capacity in sick children requires easily measurable parameters that account for nutritional status.
- Existing metrics may not fully capture the nuances of exercise performance relative to body composition in pediatric populations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the relationship between maximum workload (Wmax) and body weight (BW) and fat-free mass (FFM) in healthy children aged 12-18 years.
- To establish reference values for Wmax adjusted for nutritional status (BW and FFM).
- To provide tools for predicting workload corrected for body composition in pediatric populations.
Main Methods:
- An incremental maximum exercise test was conducted on a bicycle ergometer for 158 healthy children (77 boys, 81 girls) aged 12-18 years.
- Body weight (BW) and fat-free mass (FFM) were measured in all participants.
- Correlation and two-way analysis of variance were used to analyze the relationships between Wmax, BW, FFM, gender, and age.
Main Results:
- Significant positive correlations were found between Wmax and BW (boys: r=0.82, girls: r=0.73) and between Wmax and FFM (boys: r=0.89, girls: r=0.79) (p < 0.001).
- Gender significantly influenced the Wmax/BW and Wmax/FFM ratios.
- Age significantly affected the Wmax/FFM ratio (p=0.003) but not the Wmax/BW ratio.
Conclusions:
- The maximum workload relative to body weight (Wmax/BW) and fat-free mass (Wmax/FFM) are valuable indicators of work capacity during bicycle ergometry in children.
- Developed reference values for Wmax/BW and Wmax/FFM in boys and girls aged 12-18 years can be applied to assess children's exercise performance.
- These parameters and reference values can assist in evaluating exercise capacity in both healthy and sick children, considering their body composition.
Abstract:
Exercise performance is associated with physical development. For sick children, there is a need for parameters reflecting exercise performance, which should be easy to measure and should take their nutritional state into account. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between maximum work-load (Wmax) and body weight (BW) as well as fat-free mass (FFM) in healthy children performing an incremental maximum exercise test on a bicycle ergometer, and to develop reference values for Wmax corrected for nutritional state. A random sample of 158 children (77 boys and 81 girls), aged 12-18 yrs, underwent an incremental maximum exercise test on a bicycle ergometer. BW and FFM were also measured. Correlation analysis showed a significant association (p < 0.001) between BW and Wmax (boys: r = 0.82; girls: r = 0.73), and between FFM and Wmax (boys: r = 0.89; girls: r = 0.79). Two-way analysis of variance showed a significant effect of gender on variance of Wmax/BW ratio as well as Wmax/FFM ratio. The influence of age was significant for Wmax/FFM (p = 0.003), but not for Wmax/BW. The maximum workload/body weight ratio and the maximum workload/fat-free mass ratio are useful parameters of work capacity in bicycle exercise testing in children. The reference values (mean, SD, median, and percentiles) for boys and girls aged 12-18 years can be used to predict workload corrected for body composition in healthy and sick children.