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This is one of the first studies that assess the association of CRF and MF with HRQoL while controlling for BMI. CRF and MF are closely related to HRQoL, in particular to physical well-being. Improving fitness could be a strategy of particular interest for improving the HRQoL of schoolchildren.

on behalf of the PREFIT project group 2 a PROFITH "PROmoting FITness and Health through physical activity" a b s t r a c t Objectives: Reference values are necessary for classifying children, for health screening, and for early prevention as many non-communicable diseases aggravate during growth and development. While physical fitness reference standards are available in children aged 6 and older, such information is lacking in preschool children. Therefore, the purposes of this study were (1) to provide sex-and age-specific physical fitness reference standards for Spanish preschool children; and (2) to study sex differences across this age period and to characterise fitness performance throughout the preschool period. Design: Cross-sectional. Methods: A total of 3179 preschool children (1678 boys) aged 2.8-6.4 years old from Spain were included in the present study. Physical fitness was measured using the PREFIT battery. Results: Age-and sex-specific percentiles for the physical fitness components are provided. Boys performed better than girls in the cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular strength, and speed-agility tests over the whole preschool period studied and for the different percentiles. In contrast, girls performed slightly better than boys in the balance test. Older children had better performance in all fitness tests than their younger counterparts. Conclusions: Our study provides age-and sex-specific physical fitness reference standards in preschool children allowing interpretation of fitness assessment. Sexual dimorphism in fitness tests exists already at preschool age, and these differences become larger with age. These findings will help health, sport, and school professionals to identify preschool children with a high/very low fitness level, to examine changes in fitness over time, and to analyse those changes obtained due to intervention effects.

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BackgroundStudies that have examined the impact of a physical activity intervention on cardiometabolic risk factors have yielded conflicting results. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of a standardized physical activity program on adiposity and cardiometabolic risk factors in schoolchildren.MethodsCluster randomized trial study of 712 schoolchildren, 8–10 years, from 20 public schools in the Province of Cuenca, Spain. The intervention (MOVI-2) consisted of play-based and non-competitive activities. MOVI-2 was conducted during two 90-minute sessions on weekdays and one 150-minute session on Saturday mornings every week between September 2010 and May 2011. We measured changes in adiposity (overweight/obesity prevalence, body mass index [BMI], triceps skinfold thickness [TST], body fat %, fat-free mass, waist circumference) and other cardiometabolic risk factors (LDL-cholesterol, triglycerides/HDL-cholesterol ratio, insulin, C-reactive protein and blood pressure). The analyses used mixed regression models to adjust for baseline covariates under cluster randomization.ResultsAmong girls, we found a reduction of adiposity in intervention versus control schools, with a decrease in TST (−1.1 mm; 95% confidence interval [CI] -2.3 to −0.7), body fat % (−0.9%; 95% CI −1.3 to −0.4), waist circumference (−2.7 cm; 95% CI −4.5 to −0.9), and an increase in fat-free mass (0.3 kg; 95% CI 0.01 to 0.6). The intervention also led to lower serum LDL-cholesterol and insulin levels. Among boys, a reduction in waist circumference (−1.4 cm; 95% CI −2.6 to −0.1; P = 0.03), and an increase in fat-free mass (0.5 kg; 95% CI 0.2 to 0.9; P = 0.003) was associated with the intervention versus control schools. The prevalence of overweight/obesity or underweight, BMI, and other cardiometabolic risk factors was not modified by the intervention. No important adverse events were registered.ConclusionsAn extracurricular intervention of non-competitive physical activity during an academic year, targeting all schoolchildren regardless of body weight, is a safe and effective measure to reduce adiposity in both genders and to improve cardiometabolic risk profile in girls.Trial registrationClinical trials NCT01277224.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12966-014-0154-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.