Appropriate scaling approach for evaluating peak VO2 development in Southern Chinese 8 to 16 years old.

Abstract

ObjectiveTo investigate scaling approaches for evaluating the development of peak VO2 and improving the identification of low cardiopulmonary fitness in Southern Chinese children and adolescents.MethodsNine hundred and twenty Chinese children and adolescents (8 to 16 years) underwent graded cardiopulmonary exercise test on a treadmill until volitional exhaustion. Peak VO2 was corrected for the effects of body mass by ratio or allometric scaling. Z score equations for predicting peak VO2 were developed. Correlations between scaled peak VO2, z scores, body size and age were tested to examine the effectiveness of the approach.ResultsEight hundred and fifty-two participants (48% male) were included in the analyses. Absolute peak VO2 significantly increased with age in both sexes (both PConclusionsAbsolute and allometric scaled peak VO2 values are provided for Hong Kong Chinese children and adolescents by age and sex. Peak VO2 z scores improve the evaluation of cardiopulmonary fitness, allowing comparisons across ages and sex and will likely provide a better metric for tracking change over time in children and adolescents, regardless of body size and age.