Níveis de resistência cardiorrespiratória em estudantes universitários da Universidade Federal de Alagoas

Abstract

Contextualization: In the current scenario, sedentary behavior is more than established in society, given this, together with the high academic demand, university students tend not to practice physical activity regularly. Low levels of physical activity lead to low physical fitness, which consequently leads to a deficiency in their cardiorespiratory resistance. With low physical fitness, university students are more exposed to chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs). In addition to low physical activity, there are other factors that may influence individuals' resistance and cardiorespiratory fitness, such as body composition, age, sex and even income. Objective: The objective of this study is to analyze the levels of cardiorespiratory resistance in university students at the Federal University of Alagoas (UFAL). Methodology: The type of research in this study was quantitative, cross-sectional observational. The sample includes university students of both sexes, over 18 years old and duly enrolled on the A.C. Simões campus. Data from participants who were unable to complete the battery of tests were excluded, for health reasons, physical disability or failure to read the device. The socio-demographic variables included age group, year of birth and monthly income. The IPAQ-SF questionnaire was also used to assess the level of physical activity, and the individuals' body mass and height were also included. Cardiorespiratory endurance was assessed using the “Modified CAFT Protocol” test, “Modified Canadian Aerobic Fitness Test” (mCAFT). To compare cardiorespiratory resistance with level of physical activity and gender, an independent t-test was used. One-way ANOVA was used for the variables of monthly income, BMI and age group. STATA 15.0 software was used, the established error was 5% and 95% confidence. Results: Of the data collected from 375 individuals, 95.46% are undergraduate students (n= 358). The highest prevalence in percentage was female with 52% (n= 195) as well as individuals who receive up to 1 minimum wage 64.50% (n= 238), individuals considered to be of normal weight 54.01% (n= 202 ), and young people who accounted for 60% of the prevalence (n= 225) and individuals considered physically active with a rate of 79.73% (n= 299). From the Vo2max calculation, it can be seen that the majority of the university population has Vo2 considered “Below” the ideal (47.2%; n= 177). It can be seen that a good part of the sample has the ideal level of VO2max, around 30.4% (n= 114) and a small portion is above the ideal levels of VO2max, with the classification “Very Good” 22.4 % (n= 84). On average, male participants had a higher level of cardiorespiratory resistance (45.01; SD= 6.54) than female participants (39.38; SD= 5.09); this difference was significant p=0.001. Participants considered insufficiently active had a lower average VO2max (39.27; SD= 6.43) compared to those considered active (42.80; SD= 5.85) this difference was significant p=0.001. There is a significant difference between VO2max in different age groups, Young (43.57; SD= 6.12); Adults (40.89; SD= 6.00); Adult/Elderly (36.30 SD= 6.34) p= 0.001. There is also a significant difference in VO2max in t e different body composition groups, Underweight (43.19 SD= 5.85); Normal weight (44.21 SD= 5.96); Overweight (38.77 SD= 5.95) p= 0.019. There were no significant differences for the income variable. Conclusion: It is concluded that young people aged up to 24 years, male, physically active and with adequate BMI have higher VO2max levels. In this study, income was not associated with VO2max.