title: Correlation between Aerobic Fitness and Body Composition in Middle School Students.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Since correlations have been found between body composition and physical activity in different parts of the world, inactivity and poor physical condition likely contributes main factors in childhood obesity. This study was implemented to determine the relationship between cardiovascular fitness and body-composition in a group of Iranian middle school students.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this descriptive study, subjects comprised of 12,946 students (10,531 girls and 2,415 boys aged 11-13 years) in the city of Isfahan. Height, weight, body-fat percent, body mass index, and cardiovascular fitness of the aforesaid students were measured by valid tests.
  
  
  RESULTS
  This study showed that fat percentage and aerobic fitness (VO2 max) of girls were 24.73%, and 29.5 (ml/kg/min) and boys19.32% and 36.4 (ml/kg/min) respectively. Results also revealed that there was a negative significant correlation between fat percent and aerobic fitness of boys (r = -0.81), and girls (r = -0.77) respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  To conclude, this study signifies that fat percentage augmentation leads to a decrease in aerobic fitness of children. Thus, fat percentage can be associated with different chronic diseases such as cardiovascular ones.
authors.affiliation: Sport Faculty, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Vazgen
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Minasian
authors.affiliation: Sport Faculty, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Sayed Mohammad
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Marandi
authors.affiliation: Child Growth and Development Research Center, Research Institute for Primordial Prevention of Non-Communicable Disease, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Roya
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kelishadi
authors.affiliation: Isfahan Provincial Education and Training Organization, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Hossein
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Abolhassani
keywords: Body composition; Isfahan; aerobic fitness; obesity; students