title: Assessing physical fitness in preschool children: Feasibility, reliability and practical recommendations for the PREFIT battery.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  In childhood (>6 years-old) and adolescence, fitness testing is feasible, reliable and related to later health. The purpose of this study was to examine the feasibility and reliability of a field-based fitness-test battery in preschool children.
  
  
  METHODS
  Repeated measures.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 161 preschoolers aged 3 to 5 years participated in the study. Anthropometry, cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular strength and motor fitness were tested twice (2 weeks apart) using weight, height, waist circumference, PREFIT 20m shuttle run, handgrip strength, standing long jump, 4×10m shuttle run and one-leg stance tests, respectively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The main results indicated that all tests are feasible and highly reliable (mean differences, weight=0.04kg, height=0.22cm, waist circumference=-0.08cm, PREFIT 20m shuttle run=2.00 laps, handgrip strength=-0.24kg and 4×10m shuttle run=0.12s), in preschool children, except for the standing long jump test and one-leg stance test (mean differences of -7.31cm and 8.01s). After some methodological adaptations, reliability for standing long jump was improved in a replication study (i.e. from -7 to -2cm). We observed evidence of heteroscedasticity in the 4×10m shuttle run and one-leg stance tests.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The PREFIT battery is a feasible and reliable tool to assess physical fitness in preschool children yet standing long jump has shown mixed findings and requires further studies. The one-leg stance test showed poor reliability in our study and if confirmed by future studies, its use in 3 to 5 years-old would not be recommended. Future studies should consider the mean differences provide in this study to explain the changes in test performance.
authors.affiliation: PROFITH "PROmoting FITness and Health through physical activity" Research Group, Department of Physical Education and Sport, Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Granada, Spain. Electronic address: cadenas@ugr.es.
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cadenas-Sanchez
authors.affiliation: PROFITH "PROmoting FITness and Health through physical activity" Research Group, Department of Physical Education and Sport, Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: Borja
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Martinez-Tellez
authors.affiliation: PROFITH "PROmoting FITness and Health through physical activity" Research Group, Department of Physical Education and Sport, Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: Guillermo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sanchez-Delgado
authors.affiliation: PROFITH "PROmoting FITness and Health through physical activity" Research Group, Department of Physical Education and Sport, Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mora-Gonzalez
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Education, School of Education, University of Cádiz, Spain.
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Castro-Piñero
authors.affiliation: Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden.
authors.forename: Marie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Löf
authors.affiliation: PROFITH "PROmoting FITness and Health through physical activity" Research Group, Department of Physical Education and Sport, Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Granada, Spain; Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden.
authors.forename: Jonatan R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Ruiz
authors.affiliation: PROFITH "PROmoting FITness and Health through physical activity" Research Group, Department of Physical Education and Sport, Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Granada, Spain; Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden.
authors.forename: Francisco B
authors.initials: FB
authors.lastname: Ortega
mesh_terms: D000886:Anthropometry; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015444:Exercise; D005080:Exercise Test / Q000379:methods*; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D053580:Muscle Strength / Q000502:physiology*; D010809:Physical Fitness / Q000502:physiology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
keywords: Anthropometry; Balance; Cardiorespiratory fitness; Motor fitness; Muscular strength; Preschoolers