Motor fitness , particularly balance , was the most studied fitness component , while cardiorespiratory fitness was the least studied .
While we wait for more evidence to be accumulated in preschool children , the PREFIT battery hereby proposed is a useful tool for assessing physical fitness in children aged 3–5 years
Background Physical fitness is a powerful health marker in childhood and adolescence , and it is reasonable to think that it might be just as important in younger children , i.e. preschoolers .
At the moment , research ers , clinicians and sport practitioners do not have enough information about which fitness tests are more reliable , valid and informative from the health point of view to be implemented in preschool children .
Objective Our aim was to systematic ally review the studies conducted in preschool children using field-based fitness tests , and examine their ( 1 ) reliability , ( 2 ) validity , and ( 3 ) relationship with health outcomes .
Our ultimate goal was to propose a field-based physical fitness-test battery to be used in preschool children .
After analyzing the information retrieved in the current systematic review about fitness testing in preschool children , we propose the PREFIT battery , field-based FITness testing in PREschool children .
Health promotion intervention in low socioeconomic kindergarten children.
OBJECTIVE To prospect ively examine the effects of a r and omized school-based intervention on nutrition and physical activity knowledge and preferences , anthropometric measures , and fitness in low socioeconomic kindergarten children . STUDY DESIGN A total of 376 children completed a school-year combined dietary-behavioral-physical activity intervention  and were compared with 349 control subjects ( age 3.8 to 6.8 years ) . RESULTS The prevalence of overweight and obesity among the kindergarten children was 27.7 % . Even though the intervention was not associated with between group differences in body mass index changes , it was associated with significantly ( P < .05 ) greater increase in nutrition knowledge and preferences , physical activity knowledge and preferences , and improvement in fitness . There was a greater ( P < .05 ) decrease in the number of overweight children in the intervention group ( -31.9 % ) compared with the controls ( -17.5 % ) . CONCLUSIONS A kindergarten dietary-physical activity intervention applied by the kindergarten teachers , had no effect on body mass index changes between the groups , but improved nutrition and physical activity knowledge and preferences , improved fitness , and decreased the percent of overweight children . This intervention may play an important role in health promotion , prevention and treatment of childhood obesity
Motor fitness , particularly balance , was the most studied fitness component , while cardiorespiratory fitness was the least studied .
While we wait for more evidence to be accumulated in preschool children , the PREFIT battery hereby proposed is a useful tool for assessing physical fitness in children aged 3–5 years
Background Physical fitness is a powerful health marker in childhood and adolescence , and it is reasonable to think that it might be just as important in younger children , i.e. preschoolers .
At the moment , research ers , clinicians and sport practitioners do not have enough information about which fitness tests are more reliable , valid and informative from the health point of view to be implemented in preschool children .
Objective Our aim was to systematic ally review the studies conducted in preschool children using field-based fitness tests , and examine their ( 1 ) reliability , ( 2 ) validity , and ( 3 ) relationship with health outcomes .
Our ultimate goal was to propose a field-based physical fitness-test battery to be used in preschool children .
After analyzing the information retrieved in the current systematic review about fitness testing in preschool children , we propose the PREFIT battery , field-based FITness testing in PREschool children .