Abstract
Background: There has been a decline in children's physical fitness in recent decades. Such concerns are largely based on evidence from North America, Europe, and Asia. The current study describes the secular trend and variation (spread) in the physical fitness scores of young Brazilians from 2005 to 2022.
Methods: This study is a repeated, cross-sectional surveillance study (1999–2022). Children and adolescents (n = 65 139; boys = 36 539) participated between 2005 and 2022. In each cohort six physical fitness tests were conducted: (1) 20-m sprint speed (m s−1), (2) cardio-respiratory 6-min run test (m min−1), (3) abdominal strength test (sit-ups per min), (4) horizontal jump test (cm), (5) the agility test (m s−1), and (6) the medicine ball throw test (cm). Means and distributional characteristics of the population were assessed using ANOVA, ANCOVA adopting BMI as the body-size covariate, Levene's test of equality-of-error variances, and Box and whisker plots.
Results: ANOVAs and ANCOVA's identified significant declines in physical fitness over time/year in 5 of the 6 physical fitness variables (e.g., 20-m sprint speed slope B = −0.018 (m s−1 y−1); 95% CI −0.019 to −0.017; p < 0.001), the only exception being the medicine ball throw test (cm). The Levene's test of equality-of-error variances also identified a systematic increase in the variances/standard deviations over time/years.
Conclusions: Results provide powerful evidence that children and adolescents' physical fitness is declining, a trend that is also diverging asymmetrically, becoming more extreme in more recent years. The “fit” appear to be getting fitter, but the fitness of the “less-fit” appears to be declining further. These results have important implications for sports medicine and government policy makers.
Methods: This study is a repeated, cross-sectional surveillance study (1999–2022). Children and adolescents (n = 65 139; boys = 36 539) participated between 2005 and 2022. In each cohort six physical fitness tests were conducted: (1) 20-m sprint speed (m s−1), (2) cardio-respiratory 6-min run test (m min−1), (3) abdominal strength test (sit-ups per min), (4) horizontal jump test (cm), (5) the agility test (m s−1), and (6) the medicine ball throw test (cm). Means and distributional characteristics of the population were assessed using ANOVA, ANCOVA adopting BMI as the body-size covariate, Levene's test of equality-of-error variances, and Box and whisker plots.
Results: ANOVAs and ANCOVA's identified significant declines in physical fitness over time/year in 5 of the 6 physical fitness variables (e.g., 20-m sprint speed slope B = −0.018 (m s−1 y−1); 95% CI −0.019 to −0.017; p < 0.001), the only exception being the medicine ball throw test (cm). The Levene's test of equality-of-error variances also identified a systematic increase in the variances/standard deviations over time/years.
Conclusions: Results provide powerful evidence that children and adolescents' physical fitness is declining, a trend that is also diverging asymmetrically, becoming more extreme in more recent years. The “fit” appear to be getting fitter, but the fitness of the “less-fit” appears to be declining further. These results have important implications for sports medicine and government policy makers.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 2079-2089 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports |
| Volume | 33 |
| Issue number | 10 |
| Early online date | 4 Jul 2023 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Oct 2023 |
Bibliographical note
This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Nevill, AM, Duncan, M, Gaya, A & Brugnara Mello, J 2023, 'Secular trends in the physical fitness of Brazilian youth: Evidence that fitness is declining for the majority but not for a fit minority', Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, vol. 33, no. 10, pp. 2079-2089., which has been published in final form athttps://dx.doi.org/10.1111/sms.14440. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions. This article may not be enhanced, enriched or otherwise transformed into a derivative work, without express permission from Wiley or by statutory rights under applicable legislation. Copyright notices must not be removed, obscured or modified. The article must be linked to Wiley’s version of record on Wiley Online Library and any embedding, framing or otherwise making available the article or pages thereof by third parties from platforms, services and websites other than Wiley Online Library must be prohibited.
This document is the author’s post-print version, incorporating any revisions agreed during the peer-review process. Some differences between the published version and this version may remain and you are advised to consult the published version if you wish to cite from it.
Funder
During the years 2003 and 2009, the Ministry of Sport of Brazil, through the National Secretariat of High Performance Sport, financed PROESP‐Br. The funding was for the purchase of materials for data collection. The Project that originates this manuscript was supported by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, Brazil. Process number 305200/2013‐5.Funding
During the years 2003 and 2009, the Ministry of Sport of Brazil, through the National Secretariat of High Performance Sport, financed PROESP-Br. The funding was for the purchase of materials for data collection. The Project that originates this manuscript was supported by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, Brazil. Process number 305200/2013-5.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Ministry of Sport of Brazil | |
| Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico | 305200/2013-5 |
Keywords
- adolescents
- change
- children
- exercise test
- motor performance