Publicación

Assessing physical fitness in preschool children: Feasibility, reliability and practical recommendations for the PREFIT battery

  • JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND MEDICINE IN SPORT
  • Autores
    Cadenas-Sanchez, C; Martinez-Tellez, B; Sanchez-Delgado, G; Mora-Gonzalez, J; Castro-Pinero, J; Lof, M; Ruiz, JR; Ortega, FB
  • Año Publicación
    2016
  • Volumen
    19
  • Número
    11
  • Pág. Inicio
    910
  • Pág. Fin
    915
  • Pág. Fin
    910
Referencia Citadas
22
Citas Web of Science
19
Total de veces citado (Z9)
19
Recuento Uso 180 días
1
Recuento Uso 5 años
21

Objectives: In childhood (>6 years-old) and adolescence, fitness testing is feasible, reliable and related to later health. The purpose of this study was to examine the feasibility and reliability of a field-based fitness-test battery in preschool children. Design: Repeated measures. Methods: A total of 161 preschoolers aged 3 to 5 years participated in the study. Anthropometry, cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular strength and motor fitness were tested twice (2 weeks apart) using weight, height, waist circumference, PREFIT 20 m shuttle run, handgrip strength, standing long jump, 4 x 10 m shuttle run and one-leg stance tests, respectively. Results: The main results indicated that all tests are feasible and highly reliable (mean differences, weight= 0.04 kg, height = 0.22 cm, waist circumference = -0.08 cm, PREFIT 20 m shuttle run = 2.00 laps, handgrip strength = 0.24 kg and 4x 10m shuttle run= 0.12 s), in preschool children, except for the standing long jump test and one-leg stance test (mean differences of -7.31 cm and 8.01 s). After some methodological adaptations, reliability for standing long jump was improved in a replication study (i.e. from 7 to 2 cm). We observed evidence of heteroscedasticity in the 4 x 10 m shuttle run and one-leg stance tests. Conclusions: The PREFIT battery is a feasible and reliable tool to assess physical fitness in preschool children yet standing long jump has shown mixed findings and requires further studies. The one-leg stance test showed poor reliability in our study and if confirmed by future studies, its use in 3 to 5 years-old would not be recommended. Future studies should consider the mean differences provide in this study to explain the changes in test performance. (C) 2016 Sports Medicine Australia. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.


Web financiada por la Junta de Andalucía, Consejería de Conocimiento, Investigación y Universidades, Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER), proyecto SOMM17/6107/UG

Web financiada por la Junta de Andalucía, Consejería de Conocimiento, Investigación y Universidades, Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER), proyecto SOMM17/6107/UGR