Relationship between Anthropometry and Motor Abilities at Pre-School Age

Content Provider	Semantic Scholar
Author	Toia, Daniela De Klein, Daniel Weber, Sarah Wessely, Nicolas Koch, Benjamin Tokarski, Walter Dordel, Sigrid Strüder, Heiko K. Graf, Christine
Copyright Year	2009
Abstract	Objective: Little is known to date about the relationship between poor motor abilities and overweight or obese pre-school children. Thus, this study examined the association between motor abilities and weight status in 1,228 kindergarten children (45.8% female). Method: Anthropometric data were assessed; age 4.7 ± 1.0 years; height 108.6 ± 8.0 cm; weight 19.1 ± 3.6 kg; BMI 16.1 ± 1.5 kg/m2. The modified Karlsruher Motor Ability Screening Test was carried out to determine the motor abilities of speed strength, muscular endurance, coordination, flexibility, and speed. Results: Based on the German BMI reference values, 3.5% of the children were obese, 9.6% overweight, 83.4% normal weight, and 3.5% underweight. During various test tasks, below-average motor abilities were discovered in 44.0–47.3%. In all age groups, overweight and obese children did not differ from their normal and underweight counterparts; except for underweight children which fared worse in flexibility. Conclusion: In contrast to former studies with first graders, overweight or obese pre-school children did not possess worse motor abilities than normal weight children. However, the high number of overweight children and motor deficits suggests that preventive measures should start at this early age.
Starting Page	221
Ending Page	225
Page Count	5
File Format	PDF HTM / HTML
DOI	10.1159/000228155
PubMed reference number	20054227
Journal	Medline
Volume Number	2
Alternate Webpage(s)	https://www.karger.com/Article/Pdf/228155
Journal	Obesity Facts
Language	English
Access Restriction	Open
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article