Int J Sports Med 1992; 13: S92-S95
DOI: 10.1055/s-2007-1024607
© Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart · New York

Physical Fitness of Children Resident at High Altitude in Bolivia

N. Fellmann, J. Coudert, H. Spielvogel, M. Bedu, P. Obert, G. Falgairette, E. Van Praagh
  • Laboratory of Physiology and Sports Biology, Faculty of Medicine, 63001 Clermont-Ferrand, France
    Instituto Boliviano de Biologia de Altura, La Paz, Bolivia
Further Information

Publication History

Publication Date:
14 March 2008 (online)

Abstract

In 7-15-yr-old children living in La Paz (Bolivia, altitude 3,700 m) (HA):

  1. Maximal oxgen consumption (V̇O2max) varies from 35 to 45 ml · min-1 · kg-1 and maximal heart rate from 188 to 194 beats · min-1. These values arc lower than those of their counterparts at low altitude (LA) by 10-20% and 10 - 15b · min-1, respectively.

  2. The anaerobic metabolism is not affected by chronic hypoxia if the nutritional conditions and pubertal development of HA and LA boys are the same. When related to percent of V̇O2max, submaximal O2 debts are similar at HA and LA. After supramaximal exercise, maximal O2 debts (45.7 ± 2.7 vs 45.91 ± 3.8 ml · kg-1) and blood lactate concentrations (7.6 ± 0.6 vs 6.5 ± 0.6 mmol · 1-1) are also the same at HA and LA. No differences are observed between the 2 altitudes in ventilatory (60 vs 56% V̇O2max) and lactate (60 vs 65% V̇O2max) thresholds. The altitude of La Paz does not alter the anaerobic performance of a force-velocity test (from 6 to 10 W · kg-1) between the ages of 7 to 15 years but reduces by 14-17% the mean anaerobic power developed during a 30-s Wingate test. This decrease could be linked to a lower participation of glycolysis and aerobic metabolism at HA during this test.

  3. Poor socio-economic and nutritional conditions do not modify the aerobic performance of boys living in La Paz but lead to lower maximal anaerobic power (from -17% to -25%) when compared with HA boys from a high sodio-economic background.

  4. Finally, the altitude of La Paz does not change the development of aerobic and anaerobic metabolisms during puberty.