Prediction of the aerobic demand of walking in children

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop a generalized equation to predict V(overdot)O-2 during level treadmill walking in young boys and girls. Methods: On an annual basis from ages 6 to 10, 23 able-bodied children (14 girls, 9 boys) completed six 5-min walking bouts at speeds ranging from 40.2 to 107.2 m.min(-1). Before testing, each child received 60 min of treadmill walking practice. During the last 2 min of each walking trial, a 2-min sample of expired gas was collected in a meteorological balloon and analyzed to determine V(overdot)O-2. Results: Stepwise regression analyses indicated that the following equation was best suited to predict walking V(overdot)O-2: V(overdot)O-2 = 24.852 + 0.003214 (walking speed in m.min(-1))(2) - 0.995 (age in yr) - 0.263 (walking speed); R = 0.95; SEE = 1.74 mL.kg(-1).min(-1). Bland-Altman analysis revealed that 95% of the differences between actual and predicted V(overdot)O-2 values fell within a range of 3.39 to -3.43 mL.kg(-1).min(-1). Conclusion: We conclude that V(overdot)O-2 during level treadmill walking can be predicted accurately in healthy young children.