Suitable levels of cardiorespiratory fitness during adolescence are closely concerned with a healthy lifestyle in adulthood. The objective of this study was to identify cardiorespiratory fitness behavior during adolescence and describe the prevalence of adolescents who fulfilled or not the healthy fitness criterion by sex, age and socioeconomic status (SES). The sample was composed by 963 adolescents (513 males and 450 females) aged 10-15 years old. A questionnaire was answered for attainment of the SES (A + B, C, D + E). To have the cardiorespiratory fitness measured, the PACER test (Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run) was conducted. The number of laps completed in the test and the maximal oxygen uptake - VO2max (ml/kg/min) were used as cardiorespiratory performance parameters. The statistical analysis included means and standard deviations, two-way variance analysis with Tukey post-hoc test, and chi-squared test (p < 0.05). While the number of laps increased from 10 to 15 years, the VO2max diminished, with no sex differences. Low SES adolescents presented lower fitness than the ones from the other SES. 68% of males and 37.2% of females did not reach the healthy fitness criterion. It was verified the majority of the adolescents who did not fulfill the healthy fitness criterion was in the low SES. These findings show that, approximately 2/3 of males and 1/3 of females did not reach the healthy fitness criterion. Low SES adolescents presented the lowest levels of cardiorespiratory fitness.
Physical endurance; Adolescent; Reference standards; Sex; Population characteristics
