Changes in Physical Fitness during the COVID-19 Pandemic in German Children

Eberhardt, Tanja; Bös, Klaus; Niessner, Claudia

doi:10.3390/ijerph19159504

Cited by 8 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 28 publications

(65 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The trends in Slovenia are almost consistent with our study 15 , with speed quality first decreasing and then rebounding. However, studies from some developed countries 6,[38][39][40][41][42] showed different results that speed remained stable in children after 2000, having previously 43 . Our study also found that during the period 2010-2019, the speed of adolescents aged 16-18 years had no significant changes, and some studies also provided some evidence 35,44 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…The performance of sit-ups improved in Japan but declined after 2019 36 . In some developed countries, increasing or stable sit-up performance was observed in Croatia 14 , Slovenia 15 , Greece 50 Portugal 38 and Germany 42,49,56 , and negative trends were found only in Brazil 48,55 and the United Kingdom 57 . On the other hand, for the bent-arm hangs test, we found that most studies showed downward trends, such as in Slovenia 15 , Dutch 43 , Lithuania 39 , and the UK 57 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Cardiorespiratory fitness improved in Japan but worsened after 2019 36 . Previous studies have shown negative trends in cardiorespiratory fitness in children and adolescents in many countries around the world 2,11,13,14,37,39,48,54,55 and some studies have found that cardiorespiratory fitness has been stable (boys or girls or both sexes) in recent years 35,41,42,49,56 . However, there are also studies reporting positive trends, such as Greece 51 , rural Poland (girls) 6 , and Slovenia 15,58 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Secular trends in physical fitness of rural Chinese children and adolescents aged 7–18 years from 1985 to 2019

Taerken

et al. 2023

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The main purpose of the study was to evaluate the secular trends in physical fitness of Chinese rural children and adolescents aged 7–18 from 1985 to 2019. The speed, muscular strength, explosive power fitness, cardiorespiratory fitness, and flexibility were investigated by National Survey on Students’ Constitution and Health in 1985, 2000, 2010 and 2019. During the period 1985–2000, the physical fitness of Chinese rural children and adolescents improved except for flexibility, and almost all of them reached the maximum increase rate. During the period 2000–2010, in addition to the improvement of flexibility, other fitness showed downward trends, and the decline ranges were large. During the period 2010–2019, the speed of boys rebounded, flexibility, explosive power and muscular strength continued to decrease. Meanwhile, speed, flexibility and muscular strength in girls rebounded, and the explosive power continued to decline. From 2000 to 2019, the body mass index increase accelerated. This study shows that some components of physical fitness of Chinese rural children and adolescents have shown positive trends in recent years, especially for girls and adolescents aged 13–15 years. However, it may also imply inequality between sexes and ages, which provides a reference for the focus of the country's physical fitness and health monitoring and intervention measures.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Secular trends in physical fitness of rural Chinese children and adolescents aged 7–18 years from 1985 to 2019

Taerken

et al. 2023

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…It is possible that the limited opportunities to perform structured exercise in physical education classes or sports clubs due to social-distancing measures negatively affected children’s physical fitness. Several studies reported declines in children’s cardiorespiratory endurance and changes in their muscular fitness [ 19 – 26 ], although results regarding muscular fitness were inconsistent [ 19 – 22 , 25 – 28 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Another German research group tested 999 primary school children between 2012 and 2021. They found no evidence of pandemic-related declines in children’s cardiorespiratory endurance, but also reported a better standing long jump test performance in the first pandemic year compared to pre-pandemic cohorts [ 22 ]. In contrast, French researchers reported that performance in the standing long jump test, medicine ball push test, and 20-m shuttle run test decreased in third- and fourth-graders during the first pandemic year [ 19 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Covid Pandemic Effects on the Physical Fitness of Primary School Children: Results of the German EMOTIKON Project

et al. 2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background In spring of 2020, the Sars-CoV-2 incidence rate increased rapidly in Germany and around the world. Throughout the next 2 years, schools were temporarily closed and social distancing measures were put in place to slow the spread of the Covid-19 virus. Did these social restrictions and temporary school lockdowns affect children’s physical fitness? The EMOTIKON project annually tests the physical fitness of all third-graders in the Federal State of Brandenburg, Germany. The tests assess cardiorespiratory endurance (6-min-run test), coordination (star-run test), speed (20-m sprint test), lower (powerLOW, standing long jump test), and upper (powerUP, ball-push test) limbs muscle power, and static balance (one-legged stance test with eyes closed). A total of 125,893 children were tested in the falls from 2016 to 2022. Primary analyses focused on 98,510 keyage third-graders (i.e., school enrollment according to the legal key date, aged 8 to 9 years) from 515 schools. Secondary analyses included 27,383 older-than-keyage third-graders (i.e., OTK, delayed school enrollment or repetition of a grade, aged 9 to 10 years), who have been shown to exhibit lower physical fitness than expected for their age. Linear mixed models fitted pre-pandemic quadratic secular trends, and took into account differences between children and schools. Results Third-graders exhibited lower cardiorespiratory endurance, coordination, speed and powerUP in the Covid pandemic cohorts (2020–2022) compared to the pre-pandemic cohorts (2016–2019). Children’s powerLOW and static balance were higher in the pandemic cohorts compared to the pre-pandemic cohorts. From 2020 to 2021, coordination, powerLOW and powerUP further declined. Evidence for some post-pandemic physical fitness catch-up was restricted to powerUP. Cohen’s |ds| for comparisons of the pandemic cohorts 2020–2022 with pre-pandemic cohorts 2016–2019 ranged from 0.02 for powerLOW to 0.15 for coordination. Within the pandemic cohorts, keyage children exhibited developmental losses ranging from approximately 1 month for speed to 5 months for cardiorespiratory endurance. For powerLOW and static balance, the positive pandemic effects translate to developmental gains of 1 and 7 months, respectively. Pre-pandemic secular trends may account for some of the observed differences between pandemic and pre-pandemic cohorts, especially in powerLOW, powerUP and static balance. The pandemic further increased developmental delays of OTK children in cardiorespiratory endurance, powerUP and balance. Conclusions The Covid-19 pandemic was associated with declines in several physical fitness components in German third-graders. Pandemic effects are still visible in 2022. Health-related interventions should specifically target those physical fitness components that were negatively affected by the pandemic (cardiorespiratory endurance, coordination, speed).

show abstract

Germany’s 2022 Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Adolescents

Demetriou,

Beck,

Sturm

et al. 2024

Ger J Exerc Sport Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The German Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Adolescents 2022 provides a summary and a comprehensive evaluation of physical activity levels and correlated indicators using the Active Healthy Kids Canada grading framework. The 2022 German Report Card, established by the Active Healthy Kids Germany (AHK Germany) expert panel, describes to what degree German youth meets the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behavior. Additionally, distal and proximal determinants, settings, as well as strategies and investments towards improvements in physical activity were analyzed by assigning grades to the eleven Report Card indicators using established benchmarks. Most children and adolescents in Germany failed to meet the WHO guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behavior and engaged in high sitting durations. Therefore, we assigned poor grades for Overall Physical Activity (D−) and slightly higher grades for Sedentary Behavior (C). Moderately positive scores were observed for specific physical activity behaviors such as Active Transportation (C) and Non-organized Physical Activity and Active Play (C−). Organized Sport Participation was the only behavioral indicator receiving a good grade (B−). Grades were moderately positive for Settings and Sources of Influence (Family and Friends: C; School: B−; Community and Environment: B−). For the indicators within the group of Individual Characteristics, we were able to assign a grade to Physical Fitness (D+), whereas the indicator Overweight and Obesity was not rated (INC). We also assigned an incomplete grade for the Government indicator due to the need for objective criteria for grading policies, indicating data gaps potentially crucial for future research.

show abstract

Changes in Physical Fitness during the COVID-19 Pandemic in German Children

Cited by 8 publications

References 28 publications

Secular trends in physical fitness of rural Chinese children and adolescents aged 7–18 years from 1985 to 2019

Secular trends in physical fitness of rural Chinese children and adolescents aged 7–18 years from 1985 to 2019

Covid Pandemic Effects on the Physical Fitness of Primary School Children: Results of the German EMOTIKON Project

Germany’s 2022 Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Adolescents

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About