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The method of removing the confounding effect of body mass on peak oxygen uptake simply by dividing the measured values by body mass has been questioned. The aim of the study was to find an expression of body mass for compensating for differences in body mass so as to achieve the best correlation to running performance. In a cross-sectional study, design peak oxygen uptake (VO2peak) was measured in 107 boys in the age range 8-17 years and 88 girls in the age range 8-16 years. The present study indicates that VO2peak do not increase in proportion to body mass during running, rather that VO2peak is inversely related to body mass. When using allometric regression standards with the sexes separated in gender groups, there was a tendency that boys achieved scaling factors closer to unity than did the girls. The increase in subcutaneous fat in the girls throughout the pubertal years is the most likely reason why body mass increased proportionally more than VO2peak in girls. The present study indicates that VO2peak when expressed as milliliters per kilogram per minute (ml kg(-1) min(-1)) is a poor denominator for VO2peak as a function of running performance in children and adolescents.
Pettersen et al. (Wed,) studied this question.