ArticleBritish journal of sports medicine2023
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.
Article in British journal of sports medicine, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 71 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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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.
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Who cites it
71 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 133 citations in OpenAlex.
- International norms for adult handgrip strength: A systematic review of data on 2.4 million adults aged 20 to 100+ years from 69 countries and regions.Journal of sport and health science · 2025Pooled it
- Effects of Diactive-1-Supported Progressive Resistance Training on Body Composition in Youth With Type 1 Diabetes.Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle · 2026Trial
- Temporal trends in standing long jump performance of 6,233,940 Chinese children and adolescents between 2000 and 2025.Journal of exercise science and fitness · 2026Article
- Nigerian youth FitnessGram edge: A bright signal with important caveats.World journal of clinical pediatrics · 2026Article
- Contribution of Sport Type to the Association Between Handgrip Strength and Morbidity/Mortality: Future Follow-up Study and Possible Mechanisms.Sports medicine - open · 2026Review
- Health-related quality of life in young pediatric cancer survivors: The role of sarcopenia.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2026Article
- Sarcopenia in pediatric gastroenterology and hepatology: an updated review.Clinical and experimental pediatrics · 2026Article
- Improving National Fitness: An Updated Review on Cardiovascular Disease Risk Screening and Exercise Training in School-Aged Children in the U.S.Current cardiology reports · 2026Review
- Video-Based Motion Capture Smartphone Apps for Testing Human Motor Performance Skills: Scoping Review.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2026Article
- Reference percentiles for children and adolescents for the digital motor performance test (DigiMot): results from the COMO-study.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Associations of physical activity with phase angle in adolescents living with HIV: The moderating and mediating roles of physical fitness.Physiological reports · 2026Article
- The influence of oral health on sports performance: an interdisciplinary perspective.British dental journal · 2026Review
- An AI-based algorithm for analyzing physical activity and health-related fitness in youth.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Beyond Boundaries: Data Sharing in Motor Development Research-Best Practices, Challenges, and Opportunities.Journal of motor learning and development · 2026Article
- Scale-up of the Diactive-1 mHealth program integrating tailored resistance training as an educational strategy for self-management in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes: protocol for an 11-hospital multicenter randomized controlled trial.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2026Article
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- "Balancing" children's physical risks: relationship between balance and risk propensity in developmental age of an Italian children group.European journal of translational myology · 2025Article
- The Role of Muscular Fitness on Bone Mineral Content and Areal Bone Mineral Density in Youth With Type 1 Diabetes.The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism · 2025Article
- Federated generalized additive models for location, scale and shape.BMC medical research methodology · 2025Article
11 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
57 authors at 20 institutions in 29 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
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.
methodsThis 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). Percentile values were obtained using the generalised additive models for location, scale and shape method.
resultsA total of 7 966 693 test results from 34 countries (106 datasets) were used to develop sex-specific and age-specific percentile values. In addition, country-level rankings based on mean percentiles are provided for each fitness test, as well as an overall fitness ranking. Finally, an interactive fitness platform, including individual and group reporting and European fitness maps, is provided and freely available online (www.fitbackeurope.eu).
conclusionThis study discusses the major implications of fitness assessment in youth from health, educational and sport perspectives, and how the FitBack reference values and interactive web-based platform contribute to it. Fitness testing can be conducted in school and/or sport settings, and the interpreted results be integrated in the healthcare systems across Europe.
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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.