Relationship between anthropometry and motor abilities at pre-school age.
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).


METHODS
Anthropometric data were assessed; age 4.7 + or - 1.0 years; height 108.6 + or - 8.0 cm; weight 19.1 + or - 3.6 kg; BMI 16.1 + or - 1.5 kg/m(2). 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.


CONCLUSIONS
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.
De Toia
Daniela
D
Institute of Movement and Neurosciences, German Sport University Cologne, Germany.
Klein
Daniel
D
Weber
Sarah
S
Wessely
Nicolas
N
Koch
Benjamin
B
Tokarski
Walter
W
Dordel
Sigrid
S
Struder
Heiko
H
Graf
Christine
C
D000886:Anthropometry; D001835:Body Weight; D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009048:Motor Skills; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D017678:Sex Distribution; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data