[Aerobic capacity in children and adolescents--Nordic results over the past 45 years].

The aim of this study was to reveal whether today's children and adolescents have lower aerobic capacity compared with earlier studies. Aerobic capacity may be defined as the highest amount of oxygen a subject is able to consume per unit of time. Peak oxygen uptake (VO2peak) is often used as a measure of aerobic capacity in children. VO2peak in 196 healthy children and adolescents of both sexes, aged 8-16 years, was measured on a graded treadmill test. The mean results of VO2peak (l.min-1) showed only small differences compared with previous studies in Scandinavia. There was, however, greater dispersion in the present study when the VO2peak-values were corrected for weight (ml.kg-1.min-1) than in the earlier studies. When compared to other countries in Europe, Norwegian subjects achieved higher values. The reason may be due to either genetic differences or to a higher level of physical activity among the Norwegian subjects.