Key result
Cardiorespiratory fitness measured by the 20mSRT in Finnish adolescents declined from 1995 to 2020, with boys' scores decreasing continuously and girls' scores stabilizing after 2010.
Why the study?
It was unknown whether Finnish adolescents cardiorespiratory fitness measured by the 20 m shuttle run test changed between 1995 and 2020.
Observational (n=5,779)
Cardiorespiratory fitness among Finnish adolescents has declined over the past 25 years, with a widening gap between the most and least fit individuals.
May signal future cardiometabolic risk; leaves open sex-specific drivers and effective interventions.
PURPOSE: To investigate whether Finnish adolescents' cardiorespiratory fitness measured using the 20 m shuttle run test (20mSRT) changed between 1995 and 2020 and to examine between-group variation in the five datasets during the past 25 years. METHODS: Data on five cohorts were collected in 1995 (n = 498), 1998 (n = 796), 2003 (n = 2383), 2010 (n = 1383), and 2020 (n = 719). The 20mSRT was administered, following the exact same protocol, to all cohorts. A general linear contrast model was used to examine cohort differences in the 20mSRT scores. Variation across cohorts was tested using chi-square-based between-group tests. RESULTS: Girls' 20mSRT scores decreased from 1995 to 2010 and remained stable from 2010 to 2020. Boys' 20mSRT scores decreased continuously from 1995 to 2020. In addition, the variation in girls' 20mSRT scores was larger in the 2020 than 2003 cohort, indicating the growth of SRT differences between individuals in 2020 cohort compared to 2003 cohort. Similarly, boys' scores showed greater variation, especially in the 2010 and 2020 cohorts than in the 1998 cohort. CONCLUSION: The results of this study showed an overall decline in the cardiorespiratory fitness performance measured by 20mSRT of Finnish adolescents. Boys' scores decreased continuously from 1995 to 2020, whereas girls' scores remained stable after 2010. Examination of the variation in scores further revealed that the gap in scores between the adolescents with the highest and lowest scores increased over time.
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Huotari et al. (2022) conducted an observational in Cardiorespiratory fitness (n=5,779). Time period (1995-2020) vs. Earlier cohorts was evaluated on 20mSRT scores. Cardiorespiratory fitness measured by the 20mSRT in Finnish adolescents declined from 1995 to 2020, with boys' scores decreasing continuously and girls' scores stabilizing after 2010.
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