School Based Interventions in Relation to BMI and Performance Indices in Children Aged 6-12 Years

School Based Interventions in Relation to BMI and Performance Indices in Children Aged 6-12 Years

²Tsolakis Charilaos, ¹Tsekouras E. Yiannis, ¹Daviotis Theodoros, ¹Koulouvaris Panagiotis, ¹Panayiotis J. Papagelopoulos

1.1^st Orthopaedic Clinic «Attikon» General University Hospital, Orthopaedic Center of Research and Education PN Soukakos, Attikon Hospital, Athens, Greece

2.School of Physical Education and Sports Science, National Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece  

Introduction: Childhood inactivity has become a major risk factor impairing health and performance, thus giving rise to obesity and poor physical fitness indices. The negative relationship between obesity and performance has been markedly reported, however there is little evidence that identifies the interaction between school based interventions, BMI and performance, in children aged 6-12 years. Methods: The present study involved 232 boys and girls, that volunteered to participate after providing a written parental consent. Children were randomly divided into an intervention (INT, involving a 3-month training schedule, N=142) and a control group (CON, N=90). Both groups underwent a series of assessments including BMI, sum of 4 skinfolds, 20m sprint time, standing long jump, medicine ball throw, agility T-test and sit and reach test, before and after the end of the intervention. Age and gender BMI cut-off points were determined according to the World Health Organization (WHO) norms for underweight, normal, overweight and obese children. A 2-way ANOVA with repeated measures was performed to identify main effects between time and groups. Furthermore, multiple ANCOVAs were used to identify the effect of treatment with respect to pre-test control values. Results: A main effect of time was observed only for agility testing (F=4.95, p<0.05), however post-treatment effects between groups were identified in agility runs (F=21.7, p<0.001) and long jumping (F=7.4, p<0.01), when controlled for pre-treatment performance and BMI values. Discussion: A short-term training intervention results in improvements only in agility running and long jumping, a fact that highlights the effectiveness of such training regimes on the development of neuromuscular control. This positive effect is observed irrespective of changes in BMI and body composition. Longer training interventions are required in order to establish physical performance improvements that will significantly enhance the general fitness profile of school children. The study was supported by Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF).