Roles of age, sex, and weight status in the muscular fitness of Chinese Tibetan children and adolescents living at altitudes over 3600 m: A cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to assess the role of age, sex, and weight status in the development of muscular fitness in a large sample of Chinese Tibetan children and adolescents aged 7-18 years living in areas over 3600 m.

METHOD

A sample of 4673 Chinese Tibetan children and adolescents aged 7-18 years were recruited from 21 schools in three cities (Lhasa, Naqu, and Anduo) of Tibet, China. Grip strength, standing long jump, 30-s sit-ups, and 50-m dash were conducted to determine muscular fitness. Independent sample t tests were conducted to compare muscular fitness between boys and girls for each age group. The changes in mean scores on each muscular fitness test were estimated. The influence of weight status on muscular strength level was also estimated using one-way ANOVA and LSD tests. We also compared the average muscular fitness between Chinese Tibetan and Chinese average level.

RESULTS

The muscular fitness of Chinese Tibetan boys aged 7-18 years was higher than that of girls, with older children outperforming younger children. Among the Chinese Tibetan boys, those in the normal-weight group showed the best performance, whereas overweight group showed the best performance among the girls. The performance of Chinese Tibetan children and adolescents in standing long jump and 50-m dash was lower while that in sit-ups was higher than the performance of their Chinese counterparts.

CONCLUSION

Chinese Tibetan children and adolescents have relatively strong abdominal strength, but lower limb strength, which needs to be improved. Age, sex, and weight status should be considered when designing interventions to improve muscular fitness.