Fitness Levels And Quality Of Life Of Adolescent Judokas With Intellectual Disability

PURPOSE: To study the relation between the health-related fitness level and the quality of life of adolescents with an intellectual disability (ID) who practice judo. METHODS: Twelve adolescent judokas with low and moderate ID (5 girls, 14,1 ± 1,9y) participated in this study after signing an informed consent by their parents/legal guardians and an informed assent by themselves. The fitness level was obtained through body mass index (BMI), 6-minute walk test (6MWT), horizontal jump and handgrip (HG). Quality of life was obtained applying the KidsLife questionnaire (Gómez et al, 2016), validated for children and adolescents with an ID. Descriptives and Pearson’s correlations between KidsLife and the fitness variables were calculated. RESULTS: BMI = 20,8 ± 3,1; 6MWT = 487,1 ± 92,7 m; Horizontal Jump = 108,3 ± 32,0 cm; KidsLife = 95,7 ± 12,3. The only positive correlation found was between KidsLife and the distance performed in the 6MWT (r = .722; p = .008) CONCLUSIONS: These findings show that 6MWT and quality of life could indicate the importance of aerobic training for this population of adolescent judokas with ID. Nevertheless, the sample was short, so more research is needed including more participants in future studies. Supported by: Partial Financial support: Eramus+ Grant (Agreement No.: 101133404-ES-SPO-SCP) and Proyectos de Generación de Conocimiento (PID2023-147575OB-I00)