Physical fitness reference standards in Italian children.

Physical fitness in childhood is considered a marker of current and future health. For this reason, there is a need for a simple but reliable test to assess the different components of physical fitness even at school during physical education lessons. However, standard values are required to correctly interpret the results of such tests. Hence, this study aimed to generate sex- and age-specific normative percentile values for health-related physical fitness in Italian children. To this aim, 30,472 children aged 6-11 years from the Friuli Venezia-Giulia region (Italy) were examined. The fitness test battery included the Léger test (cardiorespiratory), the shuttle test (agility), standing long jumps, frontal throws of a basketball (lower and upper limb strength), the sit-and-reach test (flexibility), and the standing balance test. Sex- and age-percentile curves were determined using the General Additive Model for Location Scale and Shape (GAMLSS).Conclusion: The reference standards are provided as 1st, 3rd, 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 90th, 97th, and 99th percentiles in the form of both tables and charts and are roughly comparable with those of other European children. What is Known: • Physical fitness in childhood is considered a marker of current and future health; • Several tests have been developed to assess physical fitness in children; • There are general European reference standards for a series of tests of the main fitness components for children. What is New: • The present study provides specific reference standards for a series of tests that are indicative of the main fitness components and easily applied in children, particularly those in the Italian population; • Standing balance test and basketball frontal throw test references in a wide sample of children; • The performance of children in the present study was roughly comparable to that of other European children.

A 3-year school-based intervention improved physical fitness and reduced the prevalence of overweight and obesity in Italian prepubertal children.

BACKGROUND: Schools constitute the ideal setting in which children's physical activity, physical fitness, and health status can improve. However, intervention protocols and their effectiveness vary considerably. The purpose of the study was to investigate the differences in physical fitness and overweight and obesity prevalence between children attending structured physical education classes held by a specialized teacher (EXP) or traditional classes of equal duration held by an ordinary teacher (TRAD). METHODS: Anthropometric and fitness parameters were assessed in a convenience sample of 12,519 1st grade schoolchildren over 3 subsequent school years. Six field-based tests were used to assess physical fitness. RESULTS: Physical fitness improved more in the EXP group than in the TRAD group, except for flexibility (sit and reach). At the end of the 3rd year, the EXP children performed better than did the TRAD children (P<0.001) in Léger (girls: +34%, boys: +30%), agility shuttle (girls: -10%, boys: -9%), long jump (girls: +9%, boys: +8%), frontal basketball throw (girls: +11%, boys: +10%), and standing balance (girls: +18%, boys: +28%). The prevalence of obesity and overweight was 5% lower in the EXP than in the TRAD group at the 3-year follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: The proposed teacher-driven intervention, which was focused on the quality rather than the duration of time spent in the gym during school hours, was effective in improving children's physical fitness. Furthermore, the decrease in the prevalence of obesity and overweight suggests the intervention can improve heavier children's weight status.

Relationship between body mass index and physical fitness in Italian prepubertal schoolchildren.

The objective of this study was to investigate the association between physical fitness and body mass index categories (obesity, OB; overweight, OW; normal-weight, NW; and underweight, UW) in prepubertal children. Anthropometric and physical fitness characteristics were collected from a convenience sample of 30472 Italian schoolchildren (6-11 years old). Six field-based tests were used: Léger, agility shuttle, long jump, frontal throw of the basketball, Sit & Reach and standing balance. Significant differences were found in the anthropometric characteristics, physical fitness and weight status prevalence between girls and boys (p<0.05) and, except for flexibility, by age class (p<0.05). Obese children performed worse than their NW counterparts in aerobic capacity (p<0.001), agility (p<0.001), muscular power of the lower limb (p<0.001) and balance (p<0.001). Conversely, children with obesity showed greater upper limb power than NW children (p<0.001). The discrepancy in physical fitness between OB and NW children increased in older girls (flexibility, p = 0.002; muscular power of the lower and upper limb, p = 0.002 and p = 0.005) and boys (aerobic capacity, p = 0.009; agility, p = 0.006; standing balance, p = 0.019; muscular power of the lower and upper limb, p<0.001 and p = 0.011) compared to their younger counterparts. On the other hand, UW children performed worse than NW children mainly in terms of muscular power of the arms (p<0.001). Additionally, there was an increasing disparity in the frontal throw test scores of UW and NW girls (p = 0.003) and boys (p = 0.011) in older children compared to younger children. In conclusion, the effect of body mass index on children's physical fitness intensifies with age. OB and OW negatively affect aerobic capacity, agility, lower limb power and balance but positively affect upper limb power. UW negatively affects upper limb power. This study underscores the importance of preventing childhood OW, OB, and UW in early life to promote children's health and proper fitness development.