Temporal trends in weight-based disparities in physical fitness of children: 30-years of continuous surveillance through Slovenian national system.

Background: Obesity in childhood has deleterious consequences for health while improving physical fitness can significantly reduce health risks related to high body mass index. We aimed to examine the evolution of disparities in physical fitness based on weight status among 7-15-year-olds in Slovenia between 1989 and 2019 and compare these trends across sex, age and socioeconomic status.

Methods: We used annual data collected within the SLOfit monitoring system in the period between 1989 and 2019, totalling 4,256,930 participants (about 137 000 per year).

How to design and establish a national school-based physical fitness monitoring and surveillance system for children and adolescents: A 10-step approach recommended by the FitBack network.

Background: Providing individual- and population-level data on children's physical fitness (PF) is a crucial public health and education priority. However, few national fitness monitoring or surveillance systems are currently in practice internationally. We aim to summarize the current European PF monitoring and surveillance systems for school-aged children and to provide experience-based guidelines on how to design such systems.

Physical fitness among children with diverse weight status during and after the COVID-19 pandemic: a population-wide, cohort study based on the Slovenian physical fitness surveillance system (SLOfit).

Background: COVID-19 public health crisis has exerted immediate negative impacts on children's physical fitness, but the longer-term effects are not clear, and the impact on children with excess weight is yet unknown. We examined changes in multiple components of physical fitness in response to COVID-19 imposed restrictions, but also a year after the restrictions were terminated, and compared these trends in groups of boys and girls with normal weight, overweight, or obesity before the pandemic.

Methods: Information was gathered through Slovenia's national fitness surveillance system, and included 41,330 children (19,890 girls), aged 5-17, who had their fitness levels measured yearly from 2019 to 2022.

Challenges of social change: The 2021 Republic of Slovenia report card on physical activity of children and adolescents.

Background: Slovenian children are facing considerable health challenges from the rapid social changes that influence their opportunity to engage in daily physical activity.

Objective: To overlay the social changes to the established Report Card model as a means of contextualising the extreme changes in physical activity and fitness observed over several years.

Methods: Benchmarks were graded for 10 core indicators, plus two (Sleep, Seasonal Variations).

Secular trends in skill-related physical fitness among Slovenian children and adolescents from 1983 to 2014.

It is vital from the public health and educational perspective to be familiar with changes in the fitness levels of individuals and populations since fitness is associated with several health outcomes and cognition. Skill-related physical fitness refers to performance in sports or occupation and is associated with motor skill performance. The aim of the present study was to examine secular trends in skill-related physical fitness of 16 678 participants in four youth generations of Slovenian children and adolescents in years 1983 (n = 3128), 1993/94 (n = 3413), 2003/04 (n = 5497), and 2013/14 (n = 4640).

Physical fitness trajectories from childhood to adolescence in extremely preterm children: A longitudinal cohort study.

Objective: Cohort studies on physical fitness (PF) in former extremely preterm children are scarce and yield conflicting results. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the effect of extremely preterm birth on PF in school-age with a focus on bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD).

Methods: Eighty school-aged children were enrolled in the longitudinal cohort study.

Adequacy of energy and macronutrients intake in differently active slovenian adolescents.

Objective: Evaluate the adequacy of energy/macronutrient intake in adolescents according to the Slovenian national recommendations adopted from the recommendations of the German Nutrition Society and to identify differences in energy/macronutrient intake between differently active adolescents.

Methods: Data on energy and macronutrient intake (24-hour dietary recall), physical activity (SHAPES questionnaire), and anthropometric characteristics (body mass and height) of adolescents were obtained on a representative sample of first-year secondary school students (average (SD) age: 15.3 (0.

Effectiveness of a population-scaled, school-based physical activity intervention for the prevention of childhood obesity.

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a real-world, population-scaled, school-based physical activity (PA) intervention that provided two to three additional physical education lessons per week to children aged 6 to 14 years in Slovenia.

Methods: More than 34,000 participants from over 200 schools were compared with a similar number of nonparticipants from the same schools. Generalized estimating equations were used to estimate the effects of differing levels of exposure to the intervention (i.

Adult height prediction using the growth curve comparison method.

Understanding the growth pattern is important in view of child and adolescent development. Due to different tempo of growth and timing of adolescent growth spurt, individuals reach their adult height at different ages. Accurate models to assess the growth involve intrusive radiological methods whereas the predictive models based solely on height data are typically limited to percentiles and therefore rather inaccurate, especially during the onset of puberty.

European fitness landscape for children and adolescents: updated reference values, fitness maps and country rankings based on nearly 8 million test results from 34 countries gathered by the FitBack network.

Objectives: (1) To develop reference values for health-related fitness in European children and adolescents aged 6-18 years that are the foundation for the web-based, open-access and multilanguage fitness platform (FitBack); (2) to provide comparisons across European countries.

Methods: This study builds on a previous large fitness reference study in European youth by (1) widening the age demographic, (2) identifying the most recent and representative country-level data and (3) including national data from existing fitness surveillance and monitoring systems. We used the Assessing Levels of PHysical Activity and fitness at population level (ALPHA) test battery as it comprises tests with the highest test-retest reliability, criterion/construct validity and health-related predictive validity: the 20 m shuttle run (cardiorespiratory fitness); handgrip strength and standing long jump (muscular strength); and body height, body mass, body mass index and waist circumference (anthropometry).

SLOfit Lifelong: A model for leveraging citizen science to promote and maintain physical fitness and physical literacy across the lifespan.

SLOfit Lifelong is a public health initiative which was created to upgrade a well-established, national physical fitness surveillance system for Slovenian schoolchildren that has been collecting annual fitness and health data for over three decades. The ultimate objective of creating SLOfit Lifelong was to build a modern societal infrastructure with the capacity and ability to detect future causal associations between childhood physical fitness trends and future health outcomes based on the lifelong surveillance of one's own fitness status. By instilling citizens with an ambition to test, understand, and follow-up their own physical fitness and health status (including related health risk factors), this initiative provides the technical support and expert feedback needed to engender greater individual control over understanding (and thus modulating), one's own physical fitness status as they progress into older adulthood.

Correction: Grasgruber et al. Mapping the Mountains of Giants: Anthropometric Data from the Western Balkans Reveal a Nucleus of Extraordinary Physical Stature in Europe. 2022, , 786.

Note: The authors apologize for the rather extensive text corrections [...

Ringing the bell for quality P.E.: What are the realities of remote physical education?

Background: To date, few data on the quality and quantity of online physical education (P.E.) during the COVID-19 pandemic have been published.

Centile Reference Curves of the SLOfit Physical Fitness Tests for School-Aged Children and Adolescents.

Blagus, R, Jurak, G, Starc, G, and Leskošek, B. Centile reference curves of the SLOfit physical fitness tests for school-aged children and adolescents. J Strength Cond Res 37(2): 328-336, 2023-The study provides sex- and age-specific centile norms of Slovenian children and youth.

Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders Among Physiotherapists and Physiotherapy Students in Croatia and their Association with Physical Fitness.

Introduction: Among physiotherapists, work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) are the most common health problem. This study aimed to provide evidence for planning evidence-based health promotion programmes for ensuring and maintaining adequate physical fitness (PF) to decrease WMSDs among physiotherapists which would have started already during the study.

Methods: A cross-sectional study involved the participation of a total of 100 physiotherapy students and 62 physiotherapists.

Secular trends in physical fitness of Slovenian boys and girls aged 7 to 15 years from 1989 to 2019: a population-based study.

Using the population-based data we aim to estimate the general population trends of multiple components of physical fitness of children, identify critical structural changes in these trends, and evaluate the potential changes in differences in the test scores between the children. During the entire study period, 1989-2019, median body mass index and triceps skinfold increased in both genders and all age groups. Muscular fitness, in general, showed negative trends, with some exceptions: during the post-2010 period, children were mostly experiencing the improvement of isometric strength of the upper body.

Mapping the Mountains of Giants: Anthropometric Data from the Western Balkans Reveal a Nucleus of Extraordinary Physical Stature in Europe.

The inhabitants of the Dinaric Alps (former Yugoslavia and Albania) have long been known as people of impressive body height, but after World War II, there was a critical lack of data related to this phenomenon. This anthropological synthesis includes the measurements of 47,158 individuals (24,642 males and 22,516 females) from the period 2010−2018 and describes detailed regional differences in male stature in the Western Balkans. According to these data, young men from Montenegro (182.

Can Primary School Mathematics Performance Be Predicted by Longitudinal Changes in Physical Fitness and Activity Indicators?

Objective: To determine to what extent physical fitness indicators and/or moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) may account for final mathematics academic performance (AP) awarded at the end of primary school.

Methods: School-aged youth were sampled in a repeated-measures, longitudinal design in Grade 6 (∼11 years), and again in Grade 9 (∼14 years). The youth ( = 231, 111 girls) completed a fitness test battery consisting of: flamingo balance test, standing long jump, backward obstacle course, plate tapping, sit ups, sit and reach, handgrip, and 20-m shuttle run.

The Effect of Pandemic Movement Restriction Policies on Children's Physical Fitness, Activity, Screen Time, and Sleep.

The negative impact of isolation, confinement, and physical (in)activity due to pandemic movement restriction has been well-documented over the past year, but less is known on the impact of these policies on children's physical fitness. This study was designed to determine the effects of pandemic movement restriction policies on the 24-hour movement behavior (24-HMB) of children, and whether any alterations are reflected in worsening physical fitness outcomes determined via direct testing. A two-phase, repeated-measures study with matched controls was conducted.

Parental Perceptions of Children's Weight Status in 22 Countries: The WHO European Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative: COSI 2015/2017.

Introduction: Parents can act as important agents of change and support for healthy childhood growth and development. Studies have found that parents may not be able to accurately perceive their child's weight status. The purpose of this study was to measure parental perceptions of their child's weight status and to identify predictors of potential parental misperceptions.

Methodology and implementation of the WHO European Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (COSI).

Establishment of the WHO European Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (COSI) has resulted in a surveillance system which provides regular, reliable, timely, and accurate data on children's weight status-through standardized measurement of bodyweight and height-in the WHO European Region. Additional data on dietary intake, physical activity, sedentary behavior, family background, and school environments are collected in several countries. In total, 45 countries in the European Region have participated in COSI.

Childhood overweight and obesity in Europe: Changes from 2007 to 2017.

The Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (COSI) routinely measures height and weight of primary school children aged 6-9 years and calculates overweight and obesity prevalence within the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region using a standard methodology. This study examines the trends in the prevalence of overweight and obesity from the first round of COSI carried out in 2007/2008 to the latest of 2015/2017 in 11 European countries in which data were collected for at least three rounds. In total 303,155 children were measured.

Thinness, overweight, and obesity in 6- to 9-year-old children from 36 countries: The World Health Organization European Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative-COSI 2015-2017.

In 2015-2017, the fourth round of the World Health Organization (WHO) European Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (COSI) was conducted in 36 countries. National representative samples of children aged 6-9 (203,323) were measured by trained staff, with similar equipment and using a standardized protocol. This paper assesses the children's body weight status and compares the burden of childhood overweight, obesity, and thinness in Northern, Eastern, and Southern Europe and Central Asia.