ArticleSports health
Association Between Physical Fitness and Bone Strength and Structure in 3- to 5-Year-Old Children.
Article in Sports health. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 31 citations in OpenAlex.
- Sex Differences in Grip Strength From Birth to Age 16: A Meta-Analysis.European journal of sport science · 2025Pooled it
- Feasibility and Safety of Field-Based Physical Fitness Tests: A Systematic Review.Sports medicine - open · 2025Pooled it
- The Effect of Different Physical Exercise Programs on Physical Fitness among Preschool Children: A Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Trial
- Associations of Family Physical Activity Support and 24-Hour Movement Behaviors with Physical Fitness in Preschool Children: A Focus on MVPA.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- The associations between speed performance and health outcomes in children and adolescents: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of exercise science and fitness · 2026Review
- Longitudinal associations between 24-hour movement behaviors and physical fitness in preschoolers: a compositional isotemporal substitution analysis.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Physical fitness is associated with fat mass and muscle mass in Chinese preschoolers.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Effect of lifestyle interventions on cognitive function, physical fitness and activity over 2 years in primary school children: results from the fit4future intervention programme.BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 2025Article
- Longitudinal Associations Between Physical Activity and Sedentary Time and Cardiorespiratory and Muscular Fitness in Preschoolers.Journal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2024Article
- Longitudinal Relationships of Physical Activity, Sedentary Time, Cardiorespiratory Fitness, and Muscular Fitness with Body Fatness in Preschoolers.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Jumping Motor Skills in Typically Developing Preschool Children Assessed Using a Battery of Tests.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Structured training on gross motor skills and physical fitness in 4-5-year-old children.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2024Article
- Speed, agility, and musculoskeletal fitness are independently associated with areal bone mineral density in children.Frontiers in physiology · 2023Article
- Is it important to achieve physical activity recommendations at early stages of life to improve bone health?Osteoporosis international : a journal established as result of cooperation between the European Foundation for Osteoporosis and the National Osteoporosis Foundation of the USA · 2022Article
- Sprint and upper limbs power field tests for the screening of low bone mineral density in children.Frontiers in physiology · 2022Article
- Field-based physical fitness assessment in preschool children: A scoping review.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2022Article
- The Impact of Diet and Physical Activity on Bone Health in Children and Adolescents.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2021Review
- Jump assessment on a force plate-an approach to quantify subtle lower limb neuromuscular deficits in people with multiple sclerosis.Frontiers in neurologyReview
- Bone Health.Sports healthArticle
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe positive association between physical fitness and bone structure has been widely investigated in children and adolescents, yet no studies have evaluated this influence in young children (ie, preschoolers). HYPOTHESIS: Fit children will present improved bone variables when compared with unfit children, and no sex-based differences will emerge in the sample. STUDY
designCross-sectional study. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level 3.
methodsHandgrip strength, standing long jump (SLJ), speed/agility, balance, and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) were assessed using the Assessing FITness levels in PREschoolers (PREFIT) test battery in 92 children (50 boys; age range, 3-5 years). A peripheral quantitative computed tomography scan was performed at 38% of the length of the nondominant tibia. Cluster analysis from handgrip strength, SLJ, speed/agility, and CRF was developed to identify fitness groups. Bone variables were compared between sexes and between cluster groups. The association between individual physical fitness components and different bone variables was also tested.
resultsThree cluster groups emerged: fit (high values on all included physical fitness variables), strong (high strength values and low speed/agility and CRF), and unfit (low strength, speed/agility, and CRF). The fit group presented higher values than the strong and unfit groups for total and cortical bone mineral content, cortical area, and polar strength strain index (all
conclusionThe results suggest that global fitness in preschoolers is a key determinant for bone structure and strength but not volumetric bone mineral density. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Physical fitness is a determinant for tibial bone mineral content, structure, and strength in very young children. Performing physical fitness tests could provide useful information related to bone health in preschoolers.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.