Prediction of the aerobic demand of walking in children.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to develop a generalized equation to predict VO2 during level treadmill walking in young boys and girls.


METHODS
On an annual basis from ages 6 to 10, 23 able-bodied children (14 girls, 9 boys) completed six 5-min walking bouts at speeds ranging from 40.2 to 107.2 m x min(-1). Before testing, each child received 60 min of treadmill walking practice. During the last 2 min of each walking trial, a 2-min sample of expired gas was collected in a meteorological balloon and analyzed to determine VO2.


RESULTS
Stepwise regression analyses indicated that the following equation was best suited to predict walking VO2: VO2 = 24.852 + 0.003214 (walking speed in m x min(-1))2 - 0.995 (age in yr) - 0.263 (walking speed); R = 0.95; SEE = 1.74 mL x kg(-1) x min(-1). Bland-Altman analysis revealed that 95% of the differences between actual and predicted VO2 values fell within a range of 3.39 to -3.43 mL x kg(-1) x min(-1).


CONCLUSIONS
We conclude that VO2 during level treadmill walking can be predicted accurately in healthy young children.
Morgan
Don W
DW
Department of Kinesiology, Arizona State University, P.O. Box 870404, Tempe, AZ 85287-0404, USA. dwmorgan@asu.edu
Tseh
Wayland
W
Caputo
Jennifer L
JL
Keefer
Daniel J
DJ
Craig
Ian S
IS
Griffith
Kelly B
KB
Akins
Mary-Beth
MB
Griffith
Gareth E
GE
Krahenbuhl
Gary S
GS
Martin
Philip E
PE
D002648:Child; D002669:Child Welfare; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D005080:Exercise Test; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008124:Locomotion / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D010101:Oxygen Consumption / Q000502:physiology; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012044:Regression Analysis; D016138:Walking / Q000502:physiology*