Does living in urban or rural settings affect aspects of physical fitness in children? An allometric approach

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate physical fitness in relation to fatness in urban and rural Greek children by means of allometric scaling. Methods: The sample consisted of 360 (189 urban and 171 rural; age 12.3¡0.42 years) boys and 247 (125 urban and 122 rural; age 12.3¡0.43 years) girls. The sample was highly representative (32-64%) of all 12 year old children registered in the prefecture of Trikala, Greece. All volunteers were assessed for BMI and % body fat, as well as sit and reach, basketball throw (BT), vertical jump (VJ), handgrip strength (HG), 40 m sprint, agility run, and 20 m shuttle run. To correct for possible associations between fatness and fitness, a single cause allometric scaling was employed using the natural logarithms (ln) of fitness parameters that were significantly correlated with the ln body fat. Results: Independent-samples t tests revealed that VJ (p,0.05) was significantly higher in boys living in urban settings compared to their rural counterparts. Similarly, BT was found to be significantly better (p,0.05) in urban girls, whereas HG was significantly higher (p,0.05) in rural girls. Conclusion: Considering that (a) only three out of the 14 possible cases (seven fitness parameters for boys and seven for girls) were significantly different between urban and rural children, and (b) these differences were not uniformly distributed in children living in either urban or rural environments, it is concluded that the place of residence has no clear impact on physical fitness as studied herein.

Fitness, Motor Competence, and Body Composition Are Weakly Associated With Adolescent Back Pain

“…A series of physical performance tests were then conducted, all of which have been previously validated in very similar forms. 6,20,22,25,30,34,38 Reliability of comparable forms of these tests is also good, 16,20,21,22,25,30 though there are no reports on the reliability of the basketball throw. Most of these validity and reliability studies were conducted on preadults.…”

Associação entre baixos níveis de aptidão física e fatores sociodemográficos em adolescentes de área urbanas e rurais

“…Os autores não observaram um padrão de aptidão física, dado que os alunos da zona rural apresentam valores ligeiramente superiores nos componentes de força muscular, enquanto os da zona urbana foram superiores na flexibilidade, agilidade e resistência aeróbia. Em um estudo realizado na Grécia, também não foi observado predomínio da aptidão física em função do local de residência (Tsimeas, Tsiokanos, Koutedakis, Tsigilis, & Kellis, 2005). Contudo, estudos epidemiológicos sugerem que altos níveis de aptidão física parecem retardar a mortalidade principalmente devido a taxas menores de doença cardiovascular e câncer (Blair et al, 1989).…”

Assessment of Physical Fitness Levels, Gender and Age Differences of Rural and Urban Elementary School Children

“…In so me ca ses, no dif fe rence has be en iden ti fi ed in a ran ge of fit ness and motor skill me a su res bet we en chil dren from ur ban and ru ral are as. 4,5 Whi le so me da ta in di ca te that ur ban chil dren ha ve mo re body fat than the ir ru ral equivalents, ot her da ta are in strong di sag re e ment. 4 Reports sug ges ted that the dis tri bu ti on of children's physi cal fit ness ac ross ge og rap hic bo un da ries, such as ru ral-ur ban dis tricts, should be stu di ed in dif fe rent cli ma te, eco no mic and cul tu ral contexts.…”

“…4,5 Whi le so me da ta in di ca te that ur ban chil dren ha ve mo re body fat than the ir ru ral equivalents, ot her da ta are in strong di sag re e ment. 4 Reports sug ges ted that the dis tri bu ti on of children's physi cal fit ness ac ross ge og rap hic bo un da ries, such as ru ral-ur ban dis tricts, should be stu di ed in dif fe rent cli ma te, eco no mic and cul tu ral contexts. 6 To our know led ge, the re is a ne ed of such da ta, es pe ci ally as re fe ren ce va lu es for Tur kish Cypri ot chil dren.…”

“…Ho we ver, it is not en ti rely cle ar whet her such fac tors can af fect aspects of body com po si ti on and the re fo re, physi cal fit ness. 3,4 Con tra dic tory re ports ha ve be en pub lis hed on physi cal fit ness pa ra me ters of chil dren li ving in ur ban and ru ral set tings. In so me ca ses, no dif fe rence has be en iden ti fi ed in a ran ge of fit ness and motor skill me a su res bet we en chil dren from ur ban and ru ral are as.…”