Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36226928›Full record

ArticleAfrican journal of primary health care & family medicine2022

Relationship between body composition and physical fitness of primary school learners from a predominantly rural province in South Africa.

Howard Gomwe, Eunice Seekoe, Philemon Lyoka, Chioneso Marange, Denford Mafa

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in African journal of primary health care & family medicine, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
0.8field-weighted citation impact, top 25% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed, 3 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Howard GomweDepartment of Teaching, Learning and Community Engagement, Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University, Pretoria. howard.gomwe@smu.ac.za.
Eunice Seekoe
Philemon Lyoka
Chioneso Marange
Denford Mafa
University of Fort Hare · ZASefako Makgatho Health Sciences University · ZA

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThere is a lack of literature regarding the relationship that exists between body composition and physical fitness amongst primary school learners in South Africa. For the sake of public health purposes, it is important to investigate how body composition relates to physical fitness amongst primary school learners in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa.

aimThe aim of this study was to examine the relationship between body composition and physical fitness amongst South African primary school children.

settingThe study was conducted on a cohort of primary school learners in the Eastern Cape province, which is a predominantly rural province in South Africa.

methodsA school-based cross-sectional survey was conducted amongst 870 primary schoolchildren aged 9-14 years. Body composition and physical fitness measurements were measured and recorded using standardised measurement scales.

resultsOf the 870 participants, 40.34% (n = 351) were boys and 59.66% (n = 519) were girls. The mean age of the participants was 11.04 ± 1.50 years. Boys had a significantly (p = 0.002) higher mean age (11.24 ±1.51 years) as compared to girls (10.91 ± 1.48 years). The results of the non-parametric Spearman's rho correlation coefficients revealed several significant and negative relationships between physical fitness and body composition measurements, which were stronger in girls than in boys.

conclusionThe findings call for public health authorities and other relevant policymakers to initiate the development and implementation of policies and interventions targeted at encouraging physical activity participation and healthy lifestyle amongst primary school learners in South Africa, especially amongst girls.Contribution: The study findings supports a relatively rich literature which suggests that girls are more flexible than boys and that negative relationships between body composition measurements and physical fitness characteristics exists, which are stronger in girls than in boys.

Indexed as

Body CompositionPhysical FitnessBody Mass IndexChildCross-Sectional StudiesFemaleHumansMaleSchoolsSouth AfricaBMIbody compositionchildrenphysical fitnessprimary school.

Identifiers

PMID36226928
PMCPMC9558301
OpenAlexW4296266881

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.