Physical fitness among children with diverse weight status during and after the COVID-19 pandemic: a population-wide, cohort study based on the Slovenian physical fitness surveillance system (SLOfit).

ABSTRACT:

Background

COVID-19 public health crisis has exerted immediate negative impacts on children's physical fitness, but the longer-term effects are not clear, and the impact on children with excess weight is yet unknown. We examined changes in multiple components of physical fitness in response to COVID-19 imposed restrictions, but also a year after the restrictions were terminated, and compared these trends in groups of boys and girls with normal weight, overweight, or obesity before the pandemic.

Methods

Information was gathered through Slovenia's national fitness surveillance system, and included 41,330 children (19,890 girls), aged 5-17, who had their fitness levels measured yearly from 2019 to 2022. Multilevel linear mixed models, fitted separately for boys and girls, were

SUBMITTER: Martinko A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10624998 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature