The Health-related Physical Fitness and Heart Rate Variability in Elementary Children with Obesity

• Main Authors: Hu, Ai-Hua, 胡璦華
• Other Authors: Yang, Ai-Lun
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2018
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/y25pvx

碩士 === 臺北市立大學 === 運動科學研究所碩士在職專班 === 106 === Background and purpose: Overweight and obesity during childhood not only affect the current health of school children, but also cause damage to their health during adulthood. However, few researches discussed the differences and correlations in health-related physical fitness and heart rate variability (HRV) among obese and non-obese elementary school children. With the increasing number of overweight and obese children nowadays, therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore the differences and correlations of health-related physical fitness, body composition, and HRV among obese and non-obese elementary school children in order to provide some references for relevant agencies. Methods: Our study was conducted by recruiting thirty-two elementary school children of fourth and fifth grades. They were divided into the obese (eleven boys and five girls) and non-obese (ten boys and six girls) groups according to their body mass index (BMI). We examined the health-related physical fitness, body composition, and HRV for all subjects. The obtained data were statistically analyzed by Independent Sample t -test in order to compare the differences between the two groups. In addition, Pearson Correlation was used to analyze the correlation of all variables. The statistical significance level was set as p<0.05. Results: Our results showed that: 1) in terms of health- related physical fitness, the obese group had better grip strength of dominant hand than the non-obese group. However, the non-obese group had better performance in both 800-meter run and PEI (Physical Efficiency Index) of 3-minute step test than the obese group. The body composition, including body fat mass, percentage of body fat, muscle weight, and basal metabolism rate, was significantly higher in the obese group than that in the non-obese group, except for percentage of muscle mass; 2) in terms of HRV, the mean heart rate (Mean HR) and ratio of low frequency to high frequency power (LF/HF) were significantly higher in the obese group than those in the non-obese group. Additionally, the mean R-R interval (Mean RR), standard deviation of all normal to normal intervals (SDNN), root mean square of successive differences in RR intervals (RMSSD), and percentage of successive RR intervals that differ by more than 50 ms (pNN50%) were significantly lower in the obese group than those in the non-obese group; 3) Pearson correlation analysis indicated that seated forward flexion, time for 800-meter run, PEI, percentage of muscle mass, percentage of body fat, and body fat mass were moderately correlated with some parameters of HRV. Conclusion: Significant differences existed in some parameters of health-related physical fitness and HRV between obese and non-obese elementary school children. Furthermore, some moderate correlations were found between health-related physical fitness and HRV.