Temporal Trends in the Physical Fitness of Hong Kong Adolescents Between 1998 and 2015
This study aimed to estimate temporal trends in
the physical fitness of Hong Kong adolescents aged 12–17 years between
1998 and 2015. Physical fitness (9-min run/walk, sit-ups, push-ups, and
sit-and-reach) and body size data in a total of 28,059 adolescents tested across
five population-representative surveys of Hong Kong secondary school pupils,
were reported. Temporal trends in means were estimated at the gender-age level
by best-fitting sample-weighted linear regression, with national trends
estimated by a post-stratified population-weighting procedure. Overall, there
were small declines in 9-min run/walk (effect size
(ES)=−0.29 (95%CI: −0.32, −0.26)) and
sit-ups performance (ES=−0.24 (95%CI: −0.27,
−0.21)), with negligible changes in push-ups and sit-and-reach
performance. There were small concurrent increases in both mean height and body
mass, with a negligible increase in sum of skinfolds. Trends in mean physical
fitness and body size/were not always uniform across the population
distribution. The small declines in mean 9-min run/walk and sit-ups
performance for Hong Kong adolescents are suggestive of corresponding declines
in cardiorespiratory fitness and abdominal/core endurance, respectively.
Increased national health promotion strategies are required to improve existing
...
Source: International Journal of Sports Medicine - Category: Sports Medicine Authors: Poon, Eric Tsz-Chun Tomkinson, Grant R. Huang, Wendy Yajun Wong, Stephen Heung-Sang Tags: Training & Testing Source Type: research
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