The correlation between physical activity and fitness of the Tibetan children and adolescents living on the plateau in China / 中国学校卫生

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To learn about the characteristics of physical activity(PA) and physical fitness, and to provide basis for the health and development of the Tibetan students.@*Methods@#The cluster stratified random sampling was used, and 8 945 Tibetan students in Tibet were selected in May to June, 2019, and were administrated with questionnaire. Independent samples t test, one way ANOVA and Pearson correlation analysis were used.@*Results@#There were significant differences of PA, and physical fitness by gender, grade and living area among Tibetan adolescents ( P <0.05). The PA score of boys(2.79±0.58) was higher than that of girls( 2.51 ±0.56), while the physical fitness level of girls(62.40±25.55) was higher than that of boys(59.26±26.55). The PA score( 2.59 ±0.55) of rural Tibetan children and youth was lower than those of urban areas, while the physical fitness level(61.53±26.53) was only lower than that of county area; the PA score(2.60±0.58) of Tibetan children and youth was the lowest for grade 7 and 9, while physical fitness level(57.62±24.33) was the lowest for grade 5 and 6. PA was not significantly correlated with physical fitness of Tibetan adolescents( r =-0.01， P >0.05).@*Conclusion@#Lack of physical activity and poor physical fitness are observed in Tibetan adolescents. It is suggested that schools, families and society should cooperate in various aspects and actively take measures to improve the physical health level of Tibetan children and adolescents.