Physical fitness in children and adolescents in rural and urban areas

Abstract

Objective: the aim of the research was to determine the differences in fitness components among children and adolescents from urban and rural areas. Design/method: A sample of 5076 school children (2877) and adolescents (2199) from urban and rural areas from the region of Strumica (Macedonia). Physical fitness is estimated with 7 tests and that: standing long jump, sit-ups, bent arm hang, handgrip, sit and reach, speedagility, shuttle run 4x10 and three-minute step test. The differences in fitness tests, anthropometric measures and body composition by place of residence were examined by one-way analysis of covariance. Results: Rural children and adolescent have lower height, body mass BMI and body fat % and had higher muscular mass % cardiorespiratory fitness and speed-agility (all p < 0.001), than urban young people. Regarding muscular fitness, the results differed depending on the fitness test selected. Rural children and adolescent had a better performance in standing long jump, handgrip strength bent arm hang while they had a lower performance in sit-ups in 30 s (all p < 0.001), compared to their urban peers. Effect size was small-medium (Cohen's d = 0.1-0.5). Conclusion: children and adolescents from the rural environment show better results in cardiorespiratory fitness, muscle fitness of the upper and lower extremities and have better coordination, speed and agility in comparison with their urban peers. The place of residence, apart from other environmental factors, should be taken into account when building a state strategy and interventions through which it will promote physical activity and health.

Physical Fitness in Upper Austrian Children Living in Urban and Rural Areas: A Cross-Sectional Analysis with More Than 18,000 Children

“…Although results on the association between living environment and physical fitness have been equivocal across different global regions, studies in European youth have been fairly consistent in their findings with higher physical fitness in rural children and adolescents as compared with their peers [2,31,[39][40][41]. In addition to natural processes of growth and maturation, prior exposure to and current PA levels are considered important determinants of physical fitness [42,43].…”

“…Higher PA in rural children at younger ages has at least partially been attributed to a greater availability of safe outdoor spaces as there appears to be a direct association between time spent outdoors and PA in children [14,15,39]. In contrast, indoor time has been associated with more sedentary choices [15].…”

How Does the Family Influence the Physical Condition and Health of Children in a Rural Environment?

“…Much of the research on physical fitness (PF) related to health has focused on schools, adolescents and adult populations in urban environments [ 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 ] or has compared these urban environments with rural environments [ 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 ]. These studies have focused on evaluating the different components of PF in an isolated manner [ 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 ].…”

Choose Where You Live Carefully: Built Environment Differences in Children’s Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Cardiometabolic Risk

“…There have long been suggestions that children’s health-related fitness need to be studied across different geographic boundaries and in different climatic, economic and cultural contexts [ 12 ]. Several studies have examined differences in health and fitness parameters in children living in rural and urban areas [ 10 , 13 , 14 , 15 ]. However, data pertaining to this issue remain equivocal.…”

“…Conversely Mamalakis et al [ 13 ] reported higher adiposity in children from urban areas of Crete, compared to their rural peers. Sylejemani et al [ 15 ] most recently reported significantly higher cardiorespiratory and muscular fitness in Macedonian children from rural compared to urban areas. One other study of note employed an allometric approach to examine rural-urban differences in different fitness parameters between rural and urban children in Greece.…”