SUMMARYThe purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between academic performance and obesity/overweight among South Korean adolescents. Our data set included 72,399 adolescents in grades 7-12 who had participated in the 5th Korea Youth Risk Behaviour Web-based Survey (KYRBWS-V) in 2009. We assessed the association between academic performance and body mass index (BMI), using multivariate logistic regression analysis after adjusting for covariates such as age, parents' education level, economic status, mental stress experienced, sleep duration, frequency of muscle-strengthening exercises, smoking and drinking behaviour, and vigorous and moderate physical activity (PA). For boys, being overweight (compared with being of normal weight) had a significantly greater odds of poor academic performance (OR=1.182, 95% CI 1.052-1.329, p=0.005). Obese boys had 1.182 (1.048-1.332, p=0.006), 1.461 (1.294-1.648, p<0.001), and 1.443 (1.256-1.657, p<0.001) greater odds of having average, poor, and very poor performance, respectively. In the analysis for girls, overweight girls had 1.314 (1.124-1.536, p<0.001) and 1.296 (1.084-1.548, p=0.004) greater odds of having poor and very poor academic performance, respectively. Finally, obese girls had 1.374 (1.098-1.718, p=0.005), 1.672 (1.339-2.089, p<0.001), and 1.887 (1.478-2.409, p<0.001) greater odds of having average, poor, or very poor academic performance, respectively. Thus, overweight/obesity was negatively associated with academic performance in both boys and girls. The results of this study indicate that adolescents would benefit from weight management to prevent obesity and, possibly, improve academic performance.
The present study aimed to analyze changes in health-related physical fitness among Korean elementary and middle school students before (2019) and after (2021) the COVID-19 pandemic. Data collection was completed by requesting the physical activity promotion system (PAPS) data from elementary and middle school students. This information is obtained annually by the Goyang Office of Education in Gyeonggi-do, Korea. The collected data were measured in 2019 and 2021. Data were collected from 17,000 children in the fifth and sixth grades of elementary school and about 24,000 boys and girls in the first, second, and third grades of middle school. Chi-square analyses were used to examine data from each school’s health-related physical fitness examinations. Our results indicated that physical fitness levels were significantly lower in 2021 than in 2019 across the following six areas: cardiorespiratory endurance, power, muscular strength, flexibility, obesity, and overall health-related physical fitness (p < 0.05). In addition, the ratio of students with excellent physical fitness (PAPS Grades 1 and 2) significantly decreased from 2019 to 2021, while the ratio of students with poor physical fitness (PAPS Grades 3, 4, and 5) increased (p < 0.05). In addition, there were some differences according to grade and gender. Discussions regarding the impact of decreases in physical activity on physical fitness, interpretations of physical fitness in the context of a pandemic, and practical measures that can be implemented to improve health and fitness among children and adolescents in such situations remain essential.
Background: In Korea, the prevalence of obesity has recently been increasing due to the lack of physical activity and the westernization of Korean diets. The purpose of this study was to investigate associations between weight status and different types of physical fitness variables in Korean men. Methods: Subjects included 2,303 men aged 20-83 years who visited a public health center for cardiovascular respiratory and motor/coordination-related physical fitness tests between 2007 and 2011. Cardiovascular respiratory fitness was evaluated by measuring resting heart rate (RHR), vital capacity, and VO 2max . Motor/coordinationrelated physical fitness was evaluated by measuring the number of sit-ups, grip strength, sit-and-reach distance, vertical jump height, number of side-steps, and length of time standing on one leg with eyes open. Results: The prevalence of overweight and obese patients was 28.5% and 39.8%, respectively. After adjusting for age, frequency of drinking alcoholic beverages, smoking intensity, and exercise frequency, odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were generated. For cardiovascular respiratory fitness, as RHR increased, overweight and obesity prevalence increased. As vital capacity and VO 2max increased, overweight and obesity prevalence decreased. For motor/coordination-related physical fitness, as grip strength increased, overweight and obesity prevalence was higher. As vertical jump height increased, overweight and obesity prevalence decreased. An increased ability to stand on one leg with eyes open decreased overweight and obesity prevalence. However, no statistically significant differences were found between being overweight or being obese and the three physical fitness variables: sit-ups, sit-and-reach distance, and side-steps. Conclusion: All cardiovascular respiratory fitness variables and 50% of the motor/coordination-related physical fitness variables that we tested were closely related to Korean men being overweight/obese. To prevent excess weight gain, it is important to make an effort to do regular exercise for improving cardiovascular respiratory fitness and motor/coordination-related physical fitness.
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