Comparison of cardiovascular fitness of children 13-16 years of age from rural and urban areas of Belgaum district: A cross sectional study

Abstract

Background and Objective: Low cardiovascular fitness (CVF) in children has been associated with increasing cardiovascular and metabolic risk in later life. CVF with respect to specific social and geographical factors such as rural and urban area of residence has not been addressed in developing countries. Various studies have been done in populations abroad to document varying and contradictory results. The present cross-sectional study was hence undertaken to compare the CVF of adolescents from rural and urban areas of Belgaum district. Materials and Methods: 305 children from secondary schools from rural and urban areas of Belgaum district were recruited through simple random sampling. The children underwent measurement for baseline parameters such as resting heart rate, blood pressure, skin fold thickness, height and weight. Questionnaire about their daily life-style parameters such as television watching, daily physical activity and mode of transport to school were recorded. Outcome measures included the beep test to evaluate CVF. Results: After data analysis, the rural group was found to have significantly higher values of maximal oxygen consumption when compared with their urban peers (P = 0.000). The rural children reported higher duration of daily physical activity and more use of active means of transport to school. Conclusion: The study concluded that rural children had higher CVF as compared to their urban counter parts.

Keywords

• Adolescents
• cardiovascular fitness
• maximal oxygen consumption
• rural
• urban