ReviewInternational journal of environmental research and public health2020
Secular Trends in Physical Fitness of Children and Adolescents: A Review of Large-Scale Epidemiological Studies Published after 2006.
Review in International journal of environmental research and public health, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 47 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
47 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Temporal Trends in Health-Related Components of Physical Fitness of European Children and Adolescents from 1965 to 2025: A Systematic Review of Data on 417,362 Participants from 20 Countries.Sports medicine - open · 2026Pooled it
- Physical activity and two-year change in adolescent well-being in nine countries.Journal of research on adolescence : the official journal of the Society for Research on Adolescence · 2025Pooled it
- Longitudinal Change and Tracking of Health-Related Physical Fitness in Adolescents Aged 12-16 Years: A Structured Narrative Review.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Effects of Ecological Dynamics Approach in Physical Education on Physical Fitness and Types of Physical Activity in Middle School Students: An Exploratory Study.Journal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2026Article
- Beyond Boundaries: Data Sharing in Motor Development Research-Best Practices, Challenges, and Opportunities.Journal of motor learning and development · 2026Article
- The Descriptive Epidemiology of Panic Attacks and Panic Disorder in Australia 2020-22: Prevalence, Correlates, Age of Onset and Changes Over Time.Depression and anxiety · 2026Article
- Dietary behaviors and physical fitness among Chinese adolescents aged 13-16 years: a comparative study on breakfast, eggs, dairy, and sugar-sweetened beverages by urban-rural location and sex.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Article
- Dimensions of psychomotor performance: past and future.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Trends in 4th-12th grade students' aerobic capacity and muscular strength and endurance: New York City public school students, 2006-2019.Frontiers in public health · 2026Observational
- Trends in physical fitness among children and adolescents in Europe: A systematic review and meta-analyses during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.Journal of sport and health science · 2025Review
- Urban-Rural Disparities in the Association Between Dietary Patterns and Physical Fitness Among Chinese Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults.Nutrients · 2025Article
- Secular Trends of Children's Physical Fitness and the Impact of the COVID-Pandemic for Years 2012 to 2023.Sports medicine - open · 2025Article
- Association between daily movement behaviors and optimal physical fitness of university students: a compositional data analysis.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Trends in physical fitness among polish children and adolescents.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Possible determinants of physical fitness in Japanese school children: A cross-sectional study.Paediatric and perinatal epidemiology · 2025Article
- Temporal Trends of Linear Speed and Change of Direction Performance in Italian Children.Journal of human kinetics · 2025Article
- Trends in Physical Fitness in Children and Adolescents Within the Past 18 Years (DONALD Study).Journal of musculoskeletal & neuronal interactions · 2024Article
- Temporal trends in weight-based disparities in physical fitness of children: 30-years of continuous surveillance through Slovenian national system.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Assessment of nutritional status, physical fitness and physical activity of school going adolescents (12-15 years) in Delhi.BMC pediatrics · 2024Article
- Childhood physical activity and pubertal timing: findings from the LEGACY girls study.International journal of epidemiology · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Physical fitness (PF) of children and adolescents is an important resource for their future health. Population-based studies, however, rarely report secular changes of PF, although monitoring of these is crucial to deriving information for adequate interventions. This review aims to report trends in PF of children and adolescents. A literature search was conducted in PubMed in July 2019. Cohort studies published in English allowing statements to be made on trends in PF by comparing youth between the ages of four and 18 years were included. The review identified 24 studies from 16 countries meeting the inclusion criteria, with an overall sample size of more than 860,000 children and adolescents. Through a standardized quality assessment tool, we classified two studies as strong, 21 as moderate, and only one as weak. We analyzed specific secular trends separately for the five different dimensions: endurance, strength, speed, flexibility, and coordination. The majority of studies report a decline of PF over time; however, a few studies report conflicting results. Performance in endurance, strength, and flexibility decreased over time, whereas there was no consistent trend reported for speed and coordination. Overall, there is no international standard on examining and reporting changes or secular trends in PF of children and adolescents, and comparability of studies is limited due to heterogeneous conditions of conducting and analyzing PF tests. Consequently, standardized and consistent international monitoring should be implemented.
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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.