ASSESSING FITNESS IN PRESCHOOLERS

Currently, available evidence strongly supports the need to assess physical fitness in youth from a clinical and public health point of view. After the development of the ALPHA Fitness Project (Assessing Levels of Physical Activity and Fitness, www.thealphaproject.net) with the aim to establish a battery of valid and reliable tests in order to assess the physical fitness regarding health in children and adolescents (aged from 6 to 18 years), in the PREFIT Project (Assessing FITness in PREschoolers) the need of assessing fitness even at earlier ages, i.e. in preschool children (3 to 5 years) was identified.

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OBJECTIVE

In this context, the main objective of the PREFIT Project, headed by the PROFITH research group, was to work in the development of a fitness-test battery to assess fitness in a harmonized way across Spain, Europe and internationally in preschool age.

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METHODOLOGY

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In order to achieve this aim, the following steps have been carried out:

1. A systematic review of the literature.

2. Methodological work.

3. An assessment of the physical fitness using the PREFIT battery (from steps 1 and 2) in more than 3,000 children between the ages of 3 and 5, from 11 different cities in Spain: Granada, Jaén, Almería, and Cádiz (South); Cuenca and Madrid (centre); Castellón de la Plana and Mallorca (East); Zaragoza and Vitoria (North); and Gran Canaria (West).

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RESULTS

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After systematically reviewing the literature and conducting several methodological studies the PREFIT fitness-test battery was proposed to be used in preschool children (3 to 5 years old) which has demonstrated to be feasible and reliable in this age group.