Open Access
Schoolbag weight carriage in Portuguese children and adolescents: a cross-sectional study comparing possible influencing factors
(BMC, 2019) Barbosa, João; Marqués, Mário C.; Izquierdo Redín, Mikel; Neiva, Henrique P.; Barbosa, Tiago M.; Ramírez Vélez, Robinson; Alonso Martínez, Alicia; García Hermoso, Antonio; Aguado Jiménez, Roberto; Marinho, Daniel; Ciencias de la Salud; Osasun Zientziak
Background Schoolbags and the consequences of carrying them, particularly those associated with overload, are often studied as a health concern. Modifications in gait and posture were reported when children carried loads that corresponded to more than 10% of their body weight (BW). The aims of this study were to verify the load that is carried by Portuguese students and how it is influenced by factors such as school grade, school schedule, lunch site, physical education, sex and body mass index (BMI). Acquiring a more specific knowledge of the Portuguese context and understanding the influence of these factors may allow us to generate proposals to control them in ways that benefit students.MethodsThe load carried by students in the 5th grade (10.60.4years) and 9th grade (14.70.6years) were weighed with a luggage scale on all days of the week, resulting in 680 evaluations. Data related to the school day were also collected, such as the student's lunch site, how he or she got to school and his or her school schedule for that day. Individual height and weight were also assessed. Results The 5th grade students carried greater loads than the 9th grade students, resulting in a substantial difference relative to their BW. The school loads of the 5th grade students were mostly greater than 10% of their BWs. Girls tended to carry heavier loads than boys, and overweight students also tended to carry heavier loads. Students who could eat lunch at home carried less weight, and on physical education days, the total load carried increased, but the backpacks of the 5th grade students were lighter.Conclusions The results of the current study describe excessive schoolbag weight among Portuguese students and expound on some of the factors that influence it, which can help researchers and professionals design a solution to decrease children's schoolbag loads.
Open Access
Cardiorespiratory fitness cut-points are related to body adiposity parameters in Latin American adolescents
(MDPI, 2019) Prieto Benavides, Daniel Humberto; García Hermoso, Antonio; Izquierdo Redín, Mikel; Alonso Martínez, Alicia; Agostinis-Sobrinho, César; Correa Bautista, Jorge Enrique; Ramírez Vélez, Robinson; Ciencias de la Salud; Osasun Zientziak
Background and Objectives: A deficiency exists in the criterion-referenced cut-points for field-based cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) in Latin American youths. The aims of the present study were two-fold: (1) To identify the ability of CRF estimated by the 20-m shuttle-run test (20mSRT) to differentiate between 'healthy' and 'unhealthy' phenotypes (by adiposity) in adolescents; (2) to assess the association between obesity and relative peak oxygen uptake (VO2peak) in a large and diverse sample of Latin American youths. In total, 72,505 adolescents aged between 13 and 15 years were recruited from Chile and Colombia (47.5% girls). Materials and Methods: The waist circumference (WC) and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) were used to identify body adiposity markers. CRF was measured using the 20mSRT (VO2peak). Receiver operating characteristic curves and logistic regression were used to determine the discriminatory ability of CRF to predict body adiposity parameters. Results: For boys and girls, VO2peak showed a significant predictive capacity to detect body fat (area under the curve [AUC] > 0.62). The sensitivity of VO2peak was medium (>63%) for all age- and sex-specific cut-points, with optimal cut-points in 13- to 15-year olds for obesity identified as 43.77 mL·kg-1·min-1 and 38.53 mL·kg-1·min-1 in boys and girls, respectively. Conclusions: According to these cut-points, adolescents with low CRF were more likely to be obese either by WC or WHtR. The CRF cut-points can be used as quantitative markers for a healthier body in Latin American adolescents.
Open Access
Effects of exercise intervention on health-related physical fitness and blood pressure in preschool children: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials
(Springer, 2020) García Hermoso, Antonio; Alonso Martínez, Alicia; Ramírez Vélez, Robinson; Izquierdo Redín, Mikel; Ciencias de la Salud; Osasun Zientziak
Background: No previous systematic review has quantitatively examined the effect of physical exercise interventions on health-related physical fitness and blood pressure in children younger than 6 years old. Objective: To evaluate the effects of exercise interventions on health-related physical fitness (i.e., physical fitness components and body composition) and blood pressure in preschoolers. Methods: We searched four databases. Only randomized controlled trials (RCTs), evaluating the effectiveness of exercise intervention on weight-related outcomes, blood pressure, and physical fitness components in preschoolers (1–5.99 years old) were included. The effect sizes were reported as Hedges’ g using random-effects models. Results: A total of 19 RCTs were included. Exercise interventions favored reductions in body mass index (g = − 0.17; 95% confidence interval [CI], − 0.31 to − 0.03), waist circumference (g = − 0.25; 95% CI − 0.47 to − 0.03), and body fat percentage (g = − 0.31; 95% CI − 0.60 to − 0.23); as well as improvement in cardiorespiratory fitness (g = 0.25; 95% CI 0.08–0.42), muscular strength (g = 0.25; 95% CI 0.09–0.40), and speed–agility (g = − 0.51; 95% CI − 0.78 to − 0.24). Blood pressure was not reduced. The subgroup analysis revealed that physical exercise alone favored larger reductions in body mass index and waist circumference compared with physical exercise combined with another intervention. Also, changes in cardiorespiratory fitness, lower-body muscular strength and speed–agility were associated with larger decreases in body composition. Conclusion: Physical exercise whether combined or not with additional intervention has a small effect on both body weight and physical fitness in preschoolers. Also, it seems that interventions to prevent obesity should be directed towards improving physical fitness of preschoolers.
Open Access
Construct validity and test-retest reliability of the International Fitness Scale (IFIS) in Colombian children and adolescents aged 9-17.9 years: the FUPRECOL study
(PeerJ, 2017) Ramírez Vélez, Robinson; Cruz Salazar, Sandra Milena; Martínez, Myriam; Lusa Cadore, Eduardo; Alonso Martínez, Alicia; Correa Bautista, Jorge Enrique; Izquierdo Redín, Mikel; Ortega, Francisco B.; García Hermoso, Antonio; Ciencias de la Salud; Osasun Zientziak
Background: there is a lack of instruments and studies written in Spanish evaluating physical fitness, impeding the determination of the current status of this important health indicator in the Latin population, especially in Colombia. The aim of the study was two-fold: to examine the validity of the International Fitness Scale (IFIS) with a population-based sample of schoolchildren from Bogota, Colombia and to examine the reliability of the IFIS with children and adolescents from Engativa, Colombia. Methods: the sample comprised 1,873 Colombian youths (54.5% girls) aged 9–17.9 years. We measured their adiposity markers (waist-to-height ratio, skinfold thickness, percentage of body fat and body mass index), blood pressure, lipids profile, fasting glucose, and physical fitness level (self-reported and measured). A validated cardiometabolic risk index score was also used. An age- and sex-matched subsample of 229 schoolchildren who were not originally included in the sample completed the IFIS twice for reliability purposes. Results: our data suggest that both measured and self-reported overall physical fitness levels were inversely associated with percentage of body fat indicators and the cardiometabolic risk index score. Overall, schoolchildren who self-reported “good” or “very good” fitness had better measured fitness levels than those who reported “very poor/poor” fitness (all p < 0.001). The test-retest reliability of the IFIS items was also good, with an average weighted kappa of 0.811. Discussion: our findings suggest that self-reported fitness, as assessed by the IFIS, is a valid, reliable, and health-related measure. Furthermore, it can be a good alternative for future use in large studies with Latin schoolchildren from Colombia.

Alonso Martínez, Alicia

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