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MONDAY, Oct. 2 (HealthDay News) -- As many as one-third of American children aren't physically fit, a new study found.
Reporting in the October issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, the researchers found that boys tended to be in better shape than girls; older boys were more fit than younger boys; younger girls were more fit than older girls; and -- predictably -- heavier children were in worse shape than their slimmer counterparts.
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"We are concerned, from a public health standpoint, that a third of kids don't meet fitness standards," said lead researcher Russell R. Pate, a professor of exercise science at the University of South Carolina's Arnold School of Public Health in Columbia. "The solution is for American youth to be more physically active than they are right now."
Being physically fit is an important key to maintaining healthy blood pressure and cholesterol levels and warding off many chronic diseases. But, since the 1980s, there has been a growing trend toward overweight and even obesity among American kids, with an estimated 15 percent of boys and girls between the ages of 6 and 19 now considered overweight. Much of that weight gain has been linked to a lack of exercise.
For the new study, Pate's team assessed the physical fitness of 3,287 children, ages 12 to 19. These children all participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 1999 and 2002.
To assess fitness levels, the researchers interviewed the children and also had them visit a mobile examination center, where they underwent a treadmill exercise test consisting of a two-minute warm-up, two three-minute periods of exercise, and a two-minute cool-down period.
During the test, researchers measured blood pressure, heart rate and rate of perceived exertion, determined by asking the children to rate how hard they felt their bodies were working. Heart-rate readings during the three-minute periods of exercise were used to estimate the amount of oxygen used by the body during maximum exertion.
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