Study of the body composition of schoolchildren aged 10 to 14 years

Abstract

The study of body composition (BC) is basic to understanding the effect that diet, growth, physical exercise, illnesses and other background factors have on the organism. We have studied, from an Anthropometric perspective, a total of 1,329 children aged 10 to 14 years, attending public school in the city of Córdoba (Spain) and the village of Pozoblanco (in the north of the province of Córdoba). The skinfold measurements with highest values were those on lower limbs, being larger, in all cases, in girls than in boys. We observed highly significant differences (p<0,001) between Lohman’s and Slaughter’s formulae, although there is a high correlation between the two (0.923). There is an inverse relationship between the intensity of schoolchildren’s physical activity and the level of fat. We present percentiles for the sums of six skinfolds (TR, SSC, BI, SS, BM, LM) in boys and girls, which permits us to classify children at different degrees of overweight and obesity.