Running to Prevent Depression; Maximal Aerobic Speed for Adolescents in the South of Belgium. Comparison With Their Parents' Generation and the Impact on Their Physical and Mental Health.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To assess aerobic fitness of adolescents, using maximum aerobic speed (MAS). To test the relationship between MAS and other variables. To compare our 2019/21 data to similar data published in 1996. METHODS: A running application was used to measure MAS with the half-Cooper test. To test age, BMI, gender and school attended as possible predictors of MAS, multiple logistic regressions were performed. A series of t-tests and ANOVAs were performed to test differences between the variable means. t-tests were used to compare MAS, height and weight of our population to a similar population tested during the late 1990s. RESULTS: Our sample of 3368 adolescent students shows that age, BMI, gender and the school attended are predictors of MAS. MAS increases more significantly between 13 and 15 years of age, particularly in males. MAS is significantly greater in males compared to females at all ages between 12 and 18 years. When compared to a reference population in the 1990s, our data shows significantly lower MAS at ages 14, 15, 16 and 17 for males and at 17 for females. Males' weight is significantly higher at each age between 12 and 17, but height only significantly higher at 12, 14 and 15 years of age. Females' weight is significantly higher in each age category between 14 and 17 years of age, but height only at 12 and 14 years old. CONCLUSIONS: The aerobic fitness in adolescent students was correlated to age, BMI, gender and school attended. After 12 years old, MAS evolved differently in males and females. Our data suggests a decline in MAS since the 1990s at as early as 14 years of age in males and 17 for females, and an increased weight, which is suggestive of a decline in health. The impact of MAS decline on mental health will be discussed.