Health-Related Field-Based Fitness Tests: Normative Values for Italian Primary School Children.

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Exercise Science
• Human Movement Studies
• Child Health Research

Background:

• Fitness testing in schools offers benefits beyond physical enhancement.
• Accurate interpretation of performance requires normative data.
• Establishing sex- and age-specific data is crucial for physical fitness (PF) assessment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish sex- and age-specific percentile normative data for a physical fitness (PF) protocol.
• To define a compound measure of physical performance.
• To facilitate appropriate interpretation and monitoring of children's fitness.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional study involving 5106 school children aged 6-10 years.
• Utilized a short, feasible, and easy-to-administer physical fitness test battery.
• Constructed gender- and age-specific percentiles and calculated a Physical Fitness-Motor Competence Performance Index (PF-MC PI).

Main Results:

• Boys demonstrated higher PF scores than girls (p < 0.001).
• A trend of increased PF levels with age was observed in both genders (p < 0.0001).
• Individual PF test items showed moderate to high correlations (r = 0.549–0.700) and significantly correlated with the PF-MC PI (p < 0.0001).

Conclusions:

• Provided percentile values enable accurate interpretation and monitoring of children's fitness status.
• The PF-MC PI serves as a tool for easily rating children's health-related fitness.
• Normative data supports evidence-based physical education and health interventions.