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The Medical College of Georgia FitKid Project: the relations between program attendance and changes in outcomes in year 1

International Journal of Obesity volume 29, pages S40–S45 (2005)Cite this article

Abstract

Objective:

To investigate the relations of attendance of children in an after-school physical activity (PA) program to changes in body composition and cardiovascular fitness (CVF).

Design:

Eight-month after-school PA-based intervention.

Subjects:

In all, 278 third-grade boys and girls from nine elementary schools (age, 8.7 y (s.d.=0.6 y), body mass index (BMI) 19.1 kg/m2 (s.d.=4.4) and percent body fat (%BF) 26.0 (s.d.=9.0)).

Measurements:

Body composition (from dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry), BMI (from height and weight), waist circumference (WC) and CVF (from the YMCA submaximal bench-stepping test).

Results:

There was a significant negative linear trend between level of attendance in the after-school program and change in %BF and fat mass; there was also a significant positive linear trend between program attendance and change in CVF. There was a marginally significant linear trend between program attendance and fat-free mass. Greater increases in bone mineral density were observed with higher program attendance. Changes in BMI and WC were not influenced by program attendance.

Conclusion:

Understanding the dose–response effect of PA on health outcomes, particularly body composition, in children is crucial in our effort to prevent overweight and its health consequences. Since there is limited data available to base PA dose recommendations for youths, findings from this study are relevant, and suggest that greater health benefits can be obtained in young children with more frequent participation in PA.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to express our appreciation to the Richmond County Board of Education (Ms Stacy Mabray, Dr Audrey Wood, Dr Carol Roundtree and Mr Joe Brandenburg), the principals and teachers for their support and cooperation. Thanks are also extended to Dr Ken Resnicow, Dr Tom Baranowski and Dr Joan Duda for their consultation on this study. Funding for this project was provided by the National Institutes of Health (RO1 DK63391).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health and Kinesiology, University of Texas San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA

    Z Yin

  2. Department of Health and Sport Sciences, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, USA

    J B Moore

  3. Department of Biostatistics, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA, USA

    M H Johnson

  4. Department of Pediatrics, Georgia Prevention Institute, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA, USA

    P Barbeau, M Cavnar, J Thornburg & B Gutin

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  1. Z Yin
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  6. J Thornburg
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  7. B Gutin
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Correspondence to Z Yin.

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Yin, Z., Moore, J., Johnson, M. et al. The Medical College of Georgia FitKid Project: the relations between program attendance and changes in outcomes in year 1. Int J Obes 29 (Suppl 2), S40–S45 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0803061

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