European normative values for physical fitness in children and adolescents aged 9–17 years

Results from 2 779 165 Eurofit performances representing 30 countries

Datos Bibliográficos

ID23331104
AutoresGrant R Tomkinson (0000-0001-7601-9670, University of South Australia, autor de correspondencia), Kevin D Carver (University of North Dakota), Frazer Atkinson (University of North Dakota), Nathan Daniell (University of South Australia), Nathan D Daniell, Lucy K Lewis (0000-0001-9579-9991, Flinders University), John S Fitzgerald (0000-0001-8694-0228, University of North Dakota), Justin J Lang (0000-0002-1768-319X, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario), Francisco B Ortega (0000-0003-2001-1121, Universidad de Granada)
Año2018
Volumen52
Número22
Páginas1445-1456
Fecha de publicación2018-11-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaBritish Journal of Sports Medicine (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0306-3674 • E-ISSN: 1473-0480
EditorialBMJ (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1136/bjsports-2017-098253
PMID29191931
OpenAlexW2773648734
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas72
Referencias citadas60

OBJECTIVE: To develop sex-specific and age-specific normative values for the nine Eurofit tests in European children and adolescents aged 9-17 years. METHODS: A systematic review was undertaken to identify papers that explicitly reported descriptive results for at least one of nine Eurofit tests (measuring balance, muscular strength, muscular endurance, muscular power, flexibility, speed, speed-agility and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF)) on children and adolescents. Data were included on apparently healthy (free from known disease/injury) children and adolescents aged 9-17 years. Following harmonisation for methodological variation where appropriate, pseudodata were generated using Monte Carlo simulation, with population-weighted sex-specific and age-specific normative centiles generated using the Lambda Mu Sigma (LMS) method. Sex-specific and age-specific differences were expressed as standardised differences in means, with the percentage of children and adolescents with healthy CRF estimated at the sex-age level. RESULTS: Norms were displayed as tabulated centiles and as smoothed centile curves for the nine Eurofit tests. The final dataset included 2 779 165 results on children and adolescents from 30 European countries, extracted from 98 studies. On average, 78% of boys (95% CI 72% to 85%) and 83% of girls (95% CI 71% to 96%) met the standards for healthy CRF, with the percentage meeting the standards decreasing with age. Boys performed substantially (standardised differences >0.2) better than girls on muscular strength, muscular power, muscular endurance, speed-agility and CRF tests, but worse on the flexibility test. Physical fitness generally improved at a faster rate in boys than in girls, especially during the teenage years. CONCLUSION: This study provides the largest and most geographically representative sex-specific and age-specific European normative values for children and adolescents, which have utility for health and fitness screening, profiling, monitoring and surveillance.

Cardiorespiratory fitness · Flexibility (engineering) · Normative · Physical fitness · Physical strength · Physical therapy · Population · Statistics · Test (biology) · Children's Physical and Motor Development · Demography · Mathematics · Medicine · Psychology · Sports injuries and prevention · Sports Performance and Training · Pediatrics