INTRODUCTION. The objective of this study was to determine differences in the level of physical fitness between girls with overweight and obesity and inhabitants of eastern Poland with normal body mass index (BMI).
MATERIAL AND METHODS. The study covered 8236 girls at the age of 8–18 years from the following provinces: Podlaskie, Lubelskie and Podkarpackie. Their physical fitness was evaluated with the use of the International Physical Fitness Test. Body height was measured with a stadiometer (accuracy 0.1 cm), body mass with medical scales (accuracy 0.1 kg). From these, BMI was computed. Based on these values, from the whole population of girls examined selected girls with normal BMI (group I), overweight (group II) and these with obesity (group III). These groups were selected was evaluated with boundary BMI values for children and adolescents recommended by Cole et al.
RESULTS. Girls characterized by excessive body mass were less fit than their average peers. They achieved worse results in trials physical fitness. Only in the case of a hand grip test they were stronger than the girls from the comparative group.
CONCLUSIONS. The prevalence of overweight and obesity among girls living in eastern provinces of Poland was lower when compared with their peers from other regions of Poland or from the United States, Canada, France and Portugal. The girls with high BMI were characterized by lower levels of physical fitness in comparison with peers in developing the standard and the differences increased with increasing body weight.