Relationship between Motor Performance and Body Composition in Brazilian School Children

Introduction: Modern society is faced with limitations to practice physical activity, due to the lack of infrastructure, lack of time, lack of public safety and growth of sedentary activities that favor a sedentary lifestyle. Objective: Examined the relationship between motor performance and body composition of school children. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out with schoolchildren between 9 and 10 years of age from a public school in the city of Palmas, Tocantins, Brazil. We measured the Metabolic Equivalent, body composition and motor performance. For the analysis of association between variables, the Mann-Whitney test and Spearman correlation test were used. Results: The sample comprised 123 children with 65% being females, 57.72% was classified as appropriate regarding fat percentage and 62.61% as eutrophic for BMI. In relation to motor performance, 60.98% was below ideal. When the association between motor performance and gender was evaluated, it was observed that boys presented better indices than girls. Regarding the relationship between body composition and motor performance, it can be observed that the higher the body composition the lower the motor performance, mainly between cardiorespiratory endurance. Conclusion: The study showed a negative relationship between body composition and motor performance of schoolchildren in both sexes, thus, students with higher body weight and body fat have lower performance. INTRODUCTION Background/rationale Modern society has limitations regarding physical exercises, because of lack of infrastructure to practice physical activities and sports, lack of time, especially in big cities, lack of public security in places intended for exercise practice and growth of technological activities for children and young people, mostly favoring a sedentary behavior [1,2]. The prevalence of physical inactivity in children, as well as the poor quality of diets, lead to an increase in obesity, which is associated with metabolic and cardiovascular changes at an early age [3]. The pattern of motor performance in children, associated with the prevalence of physical inactivity and with the increase of variables related to body mass, has been decreasing considerably in recent years. In turn, physical conditions such as cardiorespiratory fitness, strength, muscular endurance and flexibility, have been associated with high levels of body mass and physical exercises have become a strategy for the prevention of chronic non-communicable diseases [4-6]. The low level of motor performance has been related to high levels of body composition in children and adolescents, in other words, children and adolescents with weight and body fat higher than ideal have an inferior motor performance [7]. Therefore, developing physical conditions in schools has become a challenge for physical education professionals who Central Barbosa et al. (2018) Email: thaizi@gmail.com Ann Pediatr Child Health 6(2): 1144 (2018) 2/6 need to promote activities that, in addition to playful, develop physical capabilities [8] and involve children and adolescents with specific and structured activities to the fundamental motor capacities be developed in plenitude [9], making them understand the relationship of these activities with their health conditions. Objectives Considering that the high levels of body composition in children and adolescents is increasing and assuming that motor performance may be associated to the indicators of body composition, this study aimed to assess the relationship between body mass and motor performance of a group of elementary schoolchildren from a public school Northern Brazil. MATERIALS AND METHODS Study design Was used a cross sectional study. Data was collected from school children in a public school in the north of Brazil, PalmasTocantins, using the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) guidelines [10]. The present study had approval by the Research Ethics Committee with Human Beings, with the No. CAAE 07564412.0. 0000.5516. Setting The correlation between body mass and motor performance has been studied for years. Children with excess body weight and fat have shown compromised variables that compose the motor development [11-16]. Regardless of the geographical location of the country and its economic development, overweightcan influence the conditions of motor performance and, consequently, the health of an entire generation [13,17-19], which raises concerns to the need of improving these indices through activities targeted at the promotion of health and prevention of diseases associated to physical inactivity [19,20]. Participants Eligibility criteria included children of both sexes, aged 9 to 10 years old, enrolled and attending elementary school, whose parents agreed to participate and signed a Free and Informed Consent Term and excluded those who did not complete the questionnaires and are not participants at all stages of the study. The selected school has 657 students in its unit, with 280 students between 9 and 10 years of age, of whom only 123 meet the inclusion criteria, the others were excluded because they did not meet the requirements. Variables The Body Composition and motor performance was the main outcome studied. This Body composition was assessed from Body Mass Index and fat percentage data, while motor performance was assessed using tests of flexibility, abdominal strength / endurance and cardiorespiratory endurance. The level of physical activity was used as an exposure variable. In addition, characteristics such as gender, age, series and study time were used. Data sources/ measurement All the data were collected by a previously trained team, with the supervision of researchers in postdoctoral, doctoral and master’s degree batch. Weight (kg) and height (cm) were measured to calculate the Body Mass Index (BMI) was classified according to the reference of the World Health Organization [21] adopted by the Food and Nutrition Surveillance [22]. Body mass was assessed by the electrical bioimpedance analysis using the Biodynamics Body Composition Analyzer System 310 and produced by Biodynamics Corporation Seattle, Washington USA. We used the Lohman Protocol [23] cited by Heyward and Stolarczyk [24] to classify body fat percentage of the schoolchildren. • The motor performance has been analyzed according to previously validated recommendations using the tests [25]:Flexibility The test consists of the child being barefoot, sitting facing the Wells Bank, feet flat against the box, knees fully extended, arms extended on the surface of the box, hands positioned one on top of the other, and the tip of the fingers of both matching. For the recording of results, the child one, with the palms of the hands facing downwards and in contact with the box, extends ahead along the measurement scale, trying to reach the greatest possible distance in slow movement and without jerks. Three attempts should be offered. • Abdominal strength The test consists of placing the child in a supine position on a mat with the knees flexed and distanced with a distance equal to the width of the hips and, the soles of the feet facing the ground, the arms should be crossed over the thorax with the palms of the hands facing the same shoulder height. In order to perform the test, the child raises the trunk until the contact of the front of the forearms with the thighs occurs and returns immediately afterwards to the initial position with the touch of at least half anterior of the scapula in the ground. The largest number of repetitions should be performed in one minute, and there may be some rest between repetitions. Only one attempts should be offered per child. • Cardiorespiratory endurance The test consists is to try go by walking or running, as far as possible in the space of nine minutes. At its end, a beep sounds, and the children stop moving around and wait for register the distance traveled. In this case, the test was executed in fields for practice of collective sports, without any type of obstacle, with markings every 10 meters. To evaluate the metabolic equivalents of the schoolchildren has been chosen the instrument Physical Activities Checklist [26] and each mentioned activity has been classified according to the Compendium of Physical Activities [27]. Bias The sample selection process for convenience and the lack of data related to diet, which could show inadequate eating habits, require that these results be viewed with caution. Central Barbosa et al. (2018) Email: thaizi@gmail.com Ann Pediatr Child Health 6(2): 1144 (2018) 3/6 Study size The sample was defined through the convenience sampling method, considering the practicality of the method. Quantitative variables To evaluate the Body Composition of the students, the Body Mass Index method and the Bioimpedance method were used. The Body Mass Index was evaluated according to the Nutritional Surveillance System (SISVAN), which uses the percentile method for evaluation. The cut-off point system for the Body Mass Index was according to the Percentile (World Health Organization [21] adopted by the Food and Nutrition Surveillance [22]): • Percentile 3 and < Percentile 85 Eutrophy •> Percentile 85 and ≤ Percentile 97 Overweight •> Percentile 97 and ≤ Percentile 99.9 Obesity •> Percentile 99.9 Severe Obesity Body composition was evaluated using the Electric Tetrapolar Bioimpedance method with the portable apparatus according to the Biodynamics Body Composition Analyzer 310e System produced by Biodynamics Corporation Seattle, Washington USA. The cut-off point of the fat percentage classification was divided between the genders (Lohman Protocol [23] cited by Heyward and Stolarczyk [24]). Male: Very Low 5%; Below Average 6 to 14%; Mean 15%; Above Average 16 to 24%; Very High 25%. Female: Very Low 8%; Below Average 9 to 22%; Mean 23%; Above Average 24 to 31%; Very High 32%. The motor performance was eva