Development of the FitBack online platform: enhancing global child fitness assessment, health-related interpretation, and surveillance

Introduction Physical fitness is an important indicator of health in children. Accurately monitoring child and adolescent physical fitness is critical when designing effective public health interventions and strategies. This article aims to provide an overview of the FitBack platform and the health-related criteria that support the reporting system. Methods Four methodological phases were used to create the FitBack platform. First, a review of existing European fitness databases was conducted to identify common fitness tests and methodologies within a European framework. Second, investigators collated data to create European-level fitness norms, health-related criteria, and health-oriented educational resources dedicated to improving child fitness levels. Third, guidance on how to create one’s own fitness monitoring and surveillance system was created based on good practice examples. The FitBack platform was then piloted and launched based on data received from stakeholders who responded to ≥2 rounds of consultation dialogues. Results The final version of online platform, with special focus on newly developed Fitback health-related fitness criteria, are communicated herein. Discussion The FitBack web platform is a first-step towards creating a standardised, person-centred, multi-national fitness surveillance system for children, bridging existing gaps between European political recommendations, individual member states, and harmonious cooperation between sectors. This article also provided the detailed age- and sex-specific health-related fitness cut-points that are used by the FitBack platform, and that could be useful for researchers, practitioners as well as fitness monitoring systems.