GROWTH, DEVELOPMENT AND HEALTH-RELATED PHYSICAL FITNESS OF SCHOOLCHILDREN: POINTING TO TRENDS

Introduction: The positive association between the effects of physical activity and health levels is known. However, maintaining healthy habits in childhood and adolescence has been a challenge today. Purpose: To assess the level of physical activity and analyze its relationship with the behavior of variables associated with growth, development and health-related physical fitness of schoolchildren in different age groups. Methods: Sample composed of 107 subjects (44 boys and 63 girls) from eight to 12 years old. Students were assessed as follow: anamnesis, biological maturation, physical activity level, body mass, height, body mass index, body fat percentage, flexibility, abdominal strength, lower and upper limbs strength, velocity and aerobic fitness. Kruskal-Wallis test was performed for independent variables with significant significance at 5%. Results: Around 42% of the students were classified as insufficiently active. The performance was below expectations for the age group 61.96% of the volunteers for aerobic fitness, 56.52% for velocity, 65.22% for abdominal strength, and 73.91% for lower limbs strength. Comparing the differences between the ages, there were statistically significant differences only for the changes in height, body mass and the upper limbs strength; pointing a level of health-related physical fitness without evolution despite the increasing the age. Conclusion: There is a tendency for these schoolchildren to become adults and elderly people at risk of health, considering that low levels of physical activity and health-related physical fitness verified in this study tend to remain throughout life and may have negative consequences in the future.