A year-long study into the effects of increased physical activity at school has shown that children's fitness levels and body composition do improve with daily participation in sport - and particularly so for children from deprived backgrounds. Obesity among children and young people continues to rise across Europe and brings with it the very real risk of increased blood pressure, higher blood-fat values and impaired glucose tolerance. Nearly 20 percent of European schoolchildren are regarded as overweight, and it is estimated that almost half of them will progress through to adulthood as obese.
There is strong evidence that socio-economic factors and educational status have a significant bearing on cardiovascular risk. Deprived families often lead unhealthy lifestyles, characterised by smoking, poor diet and physical inactivity, which in turn leads to an increase in cardiovascular risk. Set against this context, a team from the Heart Center at the University of Leipzig wanted to find out if greater participation in sport at school would have a positive effect on children from different socio-educational backgrounds. Doctor Katharina Machalica of the University of Leipzig explains, "We wanted to see if increasing physical activity from two sessions to five sessions a week would have an impact on children's cardiopulmonary fitness, body mass index, cardiovascular risk and co-ordination skills."
The study compared children from two schools in Brandis, Germany. The first school was regarded as having a higher socio-educational status (HSES), with students typically going on to university. The second school was regarded as having a lower socio-educational status (LSES), with students typically opting out of education after they obtain their secondary school certificate.