Normative values of cardiorespiratory fitness in Croatian children and adolescents

Abstract

Although defining normative values of cardiorespiratory fitness have been the topic of many Western societies, little evidence has been provided for less developed countries like Croatia. Since cardiorespiratory fitness rapidly declines in Croatian children and adolescents, the newly established normative values would help health-related professionals and physical education teachers to detect ‘talented’ groups and direct them towards sport and ‘risky’ groups for planning special interventions. Therefore, the main purpose of the study was to determine normative reference values of cardiorespiratory fitness. A total of 1,612 children and adolescents aged 7–14 years (mean±SD; age 9.7±2.4 years; stature 151.0±17.6 cm; body mass 45.1±19.1 kg; 52.5% girls) participated in this cross-sectional study. Cardiorespiratory fitness was assessed by the Maximal multistage 20-m shuttle run test and the performance was expressed as the number of stages. Maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) was estimated by equations. Smoothed percentile curves were calculated. Boys outperformed girls in the maximal number of levels achieved after the 20-m shuttle run test and in the VO2max values at each age category. In boys, a gradually higher level of performance between ages 11 and 14 was observed, while in girls the values started to rise after the age of 8. Our study provides one of the first sex- and age-specific normative values for cardiorespiratory fitness assessed by the 20-m shuttle run test in Croatian children and adolescents.

The relationships between body mass index, reciprocal ponderal index, waist-to-height ratio, and fitness in young adult males

“…Furthermore, considering RPI as a predictor, the best results have been reported in taller adolescents and those with a more linear physique ( Nevill et al, 2009 ; Nhantumbo et al, 2012 ). Finally, the best predictor of VO 2max in the current study was the RPI ( Sagat et al, 2023 ), which is in agreement with previous studies ( Thomis et al, 2000 ; Silva et al, 2016 ). These findings show that the RPI is a good predictor of aerobic capacity.…”

Determining cardiovascular fitness normative reference values in a university aged Canadian population using maximal exercise testing

“…Prior to the current study, normative reference values in the literature primarily focused on youth [18,28,32], used submaximal values to predict VO 2max [15] or used methods other than a graded treadmill exercise test; including cycle ergometry [6], a multistage 20-m running test [19,29] or a step test [33]. Percentile rankings created based on the present Canadian adult population designated the 50 th percentile for measured VO 2max to be 40.34 mL/ kg/min for females and 49.28 mL/kg/min for males.…”

“…The aerobic power research has primarily focused on very specialized populations who were more active than the general population -including police officers, cross country runners, swimmers, speed skaters, rowers, squash players and triathletes [21,30]. In addition, many researchers have focused on the normative profiles of children from countries other than Canada [1,5,17,18,28,29,32]. VO 2max studies have often been based on small sample sizes which do not allow for comprehensive normative data profiles to be created [9,21,38]; while other researchers only presented mean values rather than percentiles and classification schemes [14,17,27,36].…”