Covid Pandemic Effects on the Physical Fitness of Primary School Children: Results of the German EMOTIKON Project
Abstract Background In spring of 2020, the Sars-CoV-2 incidence rate increased rapidly in Germany and around the world. Throughout the next 2 years, schools were temporarily closed and social distancing measures were put in place to slow the spread of the Covid-19 virus. Did these social restriction...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SpringerOpen
2023-08-01
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| Series: | Sports Medicine - Open |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s40798-023-00624-1 |
| _version_ | 1827634179543662592 |
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| author | Paula Teich Thea Fühner Florian Bähr Christian Puta Urs Granacher Reinhold Kliegl |
| author_facet | Paula Teich Thea Fühner Florian Bähr Christian Puta Urs Granacher Reinhold Kliegl |
| author_sort | Paula Teich |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background In spring of 2020, the Sars-CoV-2 incidence rate increased rapidly in Germany and around the world. Throughout the next 2 years, schools were temporarily closed and social distancing measures were put in place to slow the spread of the Covid-19 virus. Did these social restrictions and temporary school lockdowns affect children’s physical fitness? The EMOTIKON project annually tests the physical fitness of all third-graders in the Federal State of Brandenburg, Germany. The tests assess cardiorespiratory endurance (6-min-run test), coordination (star-run test), speed (20-m sprint test), lower (powerLOW, standing long jump test), and upper (powerUP, ball-push test) limbs muscle power, and static balance (one-legged stance test with eyes closed). A total of 125,893 children were tested in the falls from 2016 to 2022. Primary analyses focused on 98,510 keyage third-graders (i.e., school enrollment according to the legal key date, aged 8 to 9 years) from 515 schools. Secondary analyses included 27,383 older-than-keyage third-graders (i.e., OTK, delayed school enrollment or repetition of a grade, aged 9 to 10 years), who have been shown to exhibit lower physical fitness than expected for their age. Linear mixed models fitted pre-pandemic quadratic secular trends, and took into account differences between children and schools. Results Third-graders exhibited lower cardiorespiratory endurance, coordination, speed and powerUP in the Covid pandemic cohorts (2020–2022) compared to the pre-pandemic cohorts (2016–2019). Children’s powerLOW and static balance were higher in the pandemic cohorts compared to the pre-pandemic cohorts. From 2020 to 2021, coordination, powerLOW and powerUP further declined. Evidence for some post-pandemic physical fitness catch-up was restricted to powerUP. Cohen’s |ds| for comparisons of the pandemic cohorts 2020–2022 with pre-pandemic cohorts 2016–2019 ranged from 0.02 for powerLOW to 0.15 for coordination. Within the pandemic cohorts, keyage children exhibited developmental losses ranging from approximately 1 month for speed to 5 months for cardiorespiratory endurance. For powerLOW and static balance, the positive pandemic effects translate to developmental gains of 1 and 7 months, respectively. Pre-pandemic secular trends may account for some of the observed differences between pandemic and pre-pandemic cohorts, especially in powerLOW, powerUP and static balance. The pandemic further increased developmental delays of OTK children in cardiorespiratory endurance, powerUP and balance. Conclusions The Covid-19 pandemic was associated with declines in several physical fitness components in German third-graders. Pandemic effects are still visible in 2022. Health-related interventions should specifically target those physical fitness components that were negatively affected by the pandemic (cardiorespiratory endurance, coordination, speed). |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T15:09:45Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-604920b966a6463bb51b7934687bd14c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2198-9761 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T15:09:45Z |
| publishDate | 2023-08-01 |
| publisher | SpringerOpen |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Sports Medicine - Open |
| spelling | doaj.art-604920b966a6463bb51b7934687bd14c2023-11-26T13:26:30ZengSpringerOpenSports Medicine - Open2198-97612023-08-019111910.1186/s40798-023-00624-1Covid Pandemic Effects on the Physical Fitness of Primary School Children: Results of the German EMOTIKON ProjectPaula Teich0Thea Fühner1Florian Bähr2Christian Puta3Urs Granacher4Reinhold Kliegl5Division of Training and Movement Science, Faculty of Human Sciences, University of PotsdamDivision of Training and Movement Science, Faculty of Human Sciences, University of PotsdamDivision of Sports and Movement Sciences, Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of ErfurtDepartment of Sports Medicine and Health Promotion, Friedrich-Schiller-University of JenaDepartment of Sport and Sport Science, Exercise and Human Movement Science, University of FreiburgDivision of Training and Movement Science, Faculty of Human Sciences, University of PotsdamAbstract Background In spring of 2020, the Sars-CoV-2 incidence rate increased rapidly in Germany and around the world. Throughout the next 2 years, schools were temporarily closed and social distancing measures were put in place to slow the spread of the Covid-19 virus. Did these social restrictions and temporary school lockdowns affect children’s physical fitness? The EMOTIKON project annually tests the physical fitness of all third-graders in the Federal State of Brandenburg, Germany. The tests assess cardiorespiratory endurance (6-min-run test), coordination (star-run test), speed (20-m sprint test), lower (powerLOW, standing long jump test), and upper (powerUP, ball-push test) limbs muscle power, and static balance (one-legged stance test with eyes closed). A total of 125,893 children were tested in the falls from 2016 to 2022. Primary analyses focused on 98,510 keyage third-graders (i.e., school enrollment according to the legal key date, aged 8 to 9 years) from 515 schools. Secondary analyses included 27,383 older-than-keyage third-graders (i.e., OTK, delayed school enrollment or repetition of a grade, aged 9 to 10 years), who have been shown to exhibit lower physical fitness than expected for their age. Linear mixed models fitted pre-pandemic quadratic secular trends, and took into account differences between children and schools. Results Third-graders exhibited lower cardiorespiratory endurance, coordination, speed and powerUP in the Covid pandemic cohorts (2020–2022) compared to the pre-pandemic cohorts (2016–2019). Children’s powerLOW and static balance were higher in the pandemic cohorts compared to the pre-pandemic cohorts. From 2020 to 2021, coordination, powerLOW and powerUP further declined. Evidence for some post-pandemic physical fitness catch-up was restricted to powerUP. Cohen’s |ds| for comparisons of the pandemic cohorts 2020–2022 with pre-pandemic cohorts 2016–2019 ranged from 0.02 for powerLOW to 0.15 for coordination. Within the pandemic cohorts, keyage children exhibited developmental losses ranging from approximately 1 month for speed to 5 months for cardiorespiratory endurance. For powerLOW and static balance, the positive pandemic effects translate to developmental gains of 1 and 7 months, respectively. Pre-pandemic secular trends may account for some of the observed differences between pandemic and pre-pandemic cohorts, especially in powerLOW, powerUP and static balance. The pandemic further increased developmental delays of OTK children in cardiorespiratory endurance, powerUP and balance. Conclusions The Covid-19 pandemic was associated with declines in several physical fitness components in German third-graders. Pandemic effects are still visible in 2022. Health-related interventions should specifically target those physical fitness components that were negatively affected by the pandemic (cardiorespiratory endurance, coordination, speed).https://doi.org/10.1186/s40798-023-00624-1Sars-CoV-2Cohort studyCardiorespiratory enduranceMuscle powerPhysical fitnessYouth |
| spellingShingle | Paula Teich Thea Fühner Florian Bähr Christian Puta Urs Granacher Reinhold Kliegl Covid Pandemic Effects on the Physical Fitness of Primary School Children: Results of the German EMOTIKON Project Sports Medicine - Open Sars-CoV-2 Cohort study Cardiorespiratory endurance Muscle power Physical fitness Youth |
| title | Covid Pandemic Effects on the Physical Fitness of Primary School Children: Results of the German EMOTIKON Project |
| title_full | Covid Pandemic Effects on the Physical Fitness of Primary School Children: Results of the German EMOTIKON Project |
| title_fullStr | Covid Pandemic Effects on the Physical Fitness of Primary School Children: Results of the German EMOTIKON Project |
| title_full_unstemmed | Covid Pandemic Effects on the Physical Fitness of Primary School Children: Results of the German EMOTIKON Project |
| title_short | Covid Pandemic Effects on the Physical Fitness of Primary School Children: Results of the German EMOTIKON Project |
| title_sort | covid pandemic effects on the physical fitness of primary school children results of the german emotikon project |
| topic | Sars-CoV-2 Cohort study Cardiorespiratory endurance Muscle power Physical fitness Youth |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s40798-023-00624-1 |
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