Physical performance and body mass index in Swedish children and adolescents

Background: Physical fitness and overweight are both important health-related parameters. Reference data from a population are important for comparisons with children with impairments, different diseases, in habilitation or rehabilitation after injuries. Objective: The aim of the survey was to obtain reference data on physical performance in Swedish children and adolescents aged 10, 13 and 16 years. In addition, height and body mass were assessed and body mass index (BMI) was calculated. Design: In total, 2118 children and adolescents in 48 randomly selected schools in Sweden were invited and 1737 subjects participated. Testing procedures were similar to the Eurofit tests, but with some modifications. Results : Results show generally better performance in boys than in girls and increasing performance with age. BMI increased with age with only small differences between genders. Large variations were found within age and gender groups. Conclusions: The present study provides reference data on physical performance and body size in Swedish children and adolescents. The results from the present study may be used to compare performance and anthropometric data over time or between countries, to evaluate performance in different patient groups or to set goals for athletes.