Crecimiento físico y composición corporal de jóvenes beisbolistas brasileros por edad cronológica y estado de madurez

Introduction: Physical growth (FC), biological maturation(BM) and body composition (BC) are health indicators thatshould be monitored to detect individual abnormalities andfor the selection and detection of sports talent. The objective was to verify whether the parameters of FC and CC of youngbaseball players should be analyzed by maturity status ratherthan by chronological age as suggested by research.Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carriedout in 102 children and adolescent baseball players aged 9.0to 15.0 years. The sample selection was non-probabilistic(convenience). Weight, standing height, sitting height, tricip-ital and subscapular folds were evaluated. Maturity status wascalculated by the Mirwald anthropometric technique. Fat per-centage (%G), fat mass (FM) and fat-free mass (FFM) wereestimated by regression equations.Results: The average chronological age was 12.2±2.2years, the maturity stage was reached at 14.8±0.5APVC andthe years of experience in the sport modality was 5.6±2.2years. Five levels of maturity status were determined: -4APVC, -3APVC, -2APVC, -1APVC and 0APVC. Children classi-fied as pubertal reflected higher values of weight, height, MGand GLM compared to pre-pubertal (p<0.05).Conclusion: The study demonstrated that the evaluationof maturity status in young baseball players by means of anon-invasive anthropometric technique is essential to reducethe confounding factors caused by chronological age, mainlywhen CF and CC are studied during adolescence.