title: Relationships between different nutritional anthropometric statuses and health-related fitness of South African primary school children.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A double burden of both under- and over-nutrition exists among South African children.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To describe associations between nutritional statuses and health-related fitness test performances.
  
  
  METHODS
  Height and weight of 10 285 children (6-13 years; n = 5604 boys and 4681 girls) were measured and used to calculate body mass index (BMI) and prevalence of overweight and obesity, stunting, wasting and underweight. Physical fitness scores for standing long jump, shuttle run, sit-and-reach, sit-up (EUROFIT) and cricket ball throw were assessed. Age- and gender-specific z-scores were calculated for these variables. Physical fitness for each nutritional status group was compared to children of normal weight.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared to normal weight children, overweight and obese children scored lower on all fitness tests (p < .001), except cricket ball throw (p = .235) and sit-and-reach (p = .015). Stunted and underweight children performed poorer than normal weight children on most fitness tests (p < .001), except sit-and-reach (stunted: p = .829; underweight: p = .538) and shuttle run (underweight: p = .017). Performance of wasted children was not as highly compromised as other under-nourished groups, but they performed poorer on the cricket ball throw (p < .001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  When compared to normal weight children, both under- and over-nourished children performed poorer on some, but not all, health-related fitness tests.
authors.affiliation: a Cancer Epidemiology Unit , University of Oxford , Oxford , UK.
authors.forename: M E G
authors.initials: MEG
authors.lastname: Armstrong
authors.affiliation: b Division of Exercise Science and Sports Medicine, Department of Human Biology , University of Cape Town , Cape Town , South Africa.
authors.forename: M I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Lambert
authors.affiliation: b Division of Exercise Science and Sports Medicine, Department of Human Biology , University of Cape Town , Cape Town , South Africa.
authors.forename: E V
authors.initials: EV
authors.lastname: Lambert
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006130:Growth Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009752:Nutritional Status; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology; D063766:Pediatric Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology; D010809:Physical Fitness; D015995:Prevalence; D013019:South Africa / Q000453:epidemiology; D013851:Thinness / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: South African primary school children; health-related fitness; obesity; overweight; stunting; underweight; wasting