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  • Ten year secular declines in the cardiorespiratory fitness of affluent English children are largely independent of changes in body mass index

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Ten year secular declines in the cardiorespiratory fitness of affluent English children are largely independent of changes in body mass index
  1. G Sandercock,
  2. C Voss,
  3. D McConnell,
  4. P Rayner
  1. Centre for Sports and Exercise Science. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Essex, Colchester, UK
  1. Correspondence to Dr G Sandercock, Centre for Sports and Exercise Science. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Essex, Colchester CO4 3SQ, UK; gavins{at}essex.ac.uk

Abstract

Secular changes in body mass index (BMI) and cardiorespiratory fitness (20 m shuttle-run test performance) were assessed in 10-year-old children from an affluent area of England in 1998 (n = 303; 158 boys and 145 girls) and 2008 (n = 315; 158 boys and 157 girls).

Girls’ BMI did not change over the 10 year period. There was a significant increase in boys’ BMI (p = 0.02). Cardiorespiratory fitness declined significantly (p<0.001) in both boys (7%) and girls (9%).

This study shows a large and worrying decline in cardiorespiratory fitness in children from an affluent area of England.

https://doi.org/10.1136/adc.2009.162107

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    Footnotes

    • Funding This research was funded by Sport Chelmsford.

    • Competing interests None.

    • Provenance and Peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Ethics approval The study was approved by the University of Essex ethics committee

    • Patient consent Parental/guardian consent obtained.