title: Fitness level and body composition indices: cross-sectional study among Malaysian adolescent.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The importance of fitness level on the well-being of children and adolescent has long been recognised. The aim of this study was to investigate the fitness level of school-going Malaysian adolescent, and its association with body composition indices.
  
  
  METHODS
  1071 healthy secondary school students participated in the fitness assessment for the Malaysian Health and Adolescents Longitudinal Research Team (MyHEART) study. Body composition indices such as body mass index for age, waist circumference and waist height ratio were measured. Fitness level was assessed with Modified Harvard Step Test. Physical Fitness Score was calculated using total time of step test exercise and resting heart rates. Fitness levels were divided into 3 categories - unacceptable, marginally acceptable, and acceptable. Partial correlation analysis was used to determine the association between fitness score and body composition, by controlling age, gender, locality, ethnicity, smoking status and sexual maturation. Multiple regression analysis was conducted to determine which body composition was the strongest predictor for fitness.
  
  
  RESULTS
  43.3% of the participants were categorised into the unacceptable fitness group, 47.1% were considered marginally acceptable, and 9.6% were acceptable. There was a significant moderate inverse association (p < 0.001) between body composition with fitness score (r = -0.360, -0.413 and -0.403 for body mass index for age, waist circumference and waist height ratio, respectively). Waist circumference was the strongest and significant predictor for fitness (ß = -0.318, p = 0.002).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Only 9.6% of the students were fit. There was also an inverse association between body composition and fitness score among apparently healthy adolescents, with waist circumference indicated as the strongest predictor. The low fitness level among the Malaysian adolescent should necessitate the value of healthy lifestyle starting at a young age.
authors.forename: Redzal Abu
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Hanifah
authors.forename: Hazreen Abdul
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Majid
authors.forename: Muhammad Yazid
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Jalaludin
authors.forename: Nabilla
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Al-Sadat
authors.forename: Liam J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Murray
authors.forename: Marie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cantwell
authors.forename: Tin Tin
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: Azmi Mohamed
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Nahar
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001823:Body Composition; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008296:Malaysia; D008297:Male; D010809:Physical Fitness / Q000502:physiology*; D055105:Waist Circumference; D065927:Waist-Height Ratio