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Background: physical fitness is a powerfull indicator of the health coindition in childhood, adolescence and adulthood. This research is performed in order to determine the age and gender stratified reference values for healthy physical fitness for Macodonian children and adolescents and to identify signicicant gender differences.Methods: a descriptive cross-sectional and population-based study examined the physical fitness among a random and large national representative sample of schoolchildren aged six to 14 years in Macedonia. A sample of 9,241 children and adolescents (4,716 boys and 4,525 girls) was assessed by the EUROFIT fitness test battery. The LMS statistical method was used.Results: smoothed gender and age-specific percentiles for the physical fitness tests in boys and girls aged six to 14 years are reported and expressed as both tabulated and curves values (P5, P10, P25, P50, P75, P90, P95). Figures showed greater physical fitness levels in boys, except for the sit-and-reach test, in which girls performed slightly better. There was also a trend towards increased physical fitness levels as the age increased in both boys and girls.Conclusion: the percentile values provided will enable the correct interpretation and monitoring of fitness status of Macedonion children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Pre-school age is important for developing healthy attitudes towards physical activity (PA). However, research on pre-schoolers' pedometer-determined PA is limited. Aim: To describe pre-schoolers' ambulatory activity; investigate step count differences in respect to Body Mass Index (BMI) categories and examine the prevalence of obesity. Subjects and methods: Pre-school aged children ( n = 250; 5.5 ± 0.4 years) from Komotini (Greece) wore Omron HJ-720IT-E2 pedometers for 10 consecutive days. Height and weight were measured and BMI was calculated. Results: Three-way repeated measures ANOVAs revealed that children performed more steps on weekdays than during weekends ( p < 0.001) and during leisure time than school ( p < 0.001). Significant differences appeared between normal and obese children's counts on weekdays ( p < 0.001), weekend days ( p < 0.05), during school ( p < 0.001), after school ( p < 0.005) and in weekly steps ( p < 0.005). No gender differences were detected. Moreover, according to a sample t-test analysis, children's daily steps were significantly different from the 10 000 steps/day guideline, while obesity prevalence was 15.6%. Conclusion: School-based ambulatory activity is lower than after school ambulatory activity, independent of BMI-category and gender, although obese children demonstrated fewer steps. Taking into account the high rate of both the obesity prevalence and children not meeting the 10 000 steps/day guideline, the need for preventive policies becomes obvious. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To assess the long-term effectiveness of a school-based health education intervention program 10 years after its initiation. Method: In 1992 the total population of first grade students from three counties of Crete participated in the study. Over 1000 students were randomly selected for initial and periodic evaluation. Biochemical and behavioural parameters (anthropometric, lipoproteins, blood pressure, physical activity, dietary record and health habits) were measured. Re-evaluation of the program was performed at 3, 6 and 10years after its initiation. Results: Ten years after the initiation of the program, the results showed that BMI had increased significantly less (p <0.001) and performance in the shuttle run test was significantly better (p <0.001) in the intervention group as compared to the control group. The reduction in total cholesterol noted in both groups was significantly greater in the intervention group than in the control group (p <0.001). The incidence of smoking was also significantly lower in the intervention group (intervention group 7%, control group 13%, p <0.005). Conclusion: This program appears to improve children''s health and decrease risk factors for chronic diseases. If these positive effects are maintained in the forthcoming decades, the risk of chronic diseases may well be reduced. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Children with the developmental coordination disorder have difficulties in performing several movement tasks. The present study examined the role of the developmental coordination disorder in children's physical fitness in the context of Greek primary education. One hundred fifty-four pupils participated in the study. The Movement Assessment Battery for Children was used to assess their motor coordination and to classify the children in groups (Henderson & Sugden, 1992). The Youth Fitness Test was used for the estimation of children's physical abilities (AAHPERD, 1980). Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney analysis revealed statistically significant differences between the groups in 50-yard sprint, 600-yard running, shuttle run, sit-ups and standing long jump. Children with severe and moderate motor difficulties achieved much lower scores. The results of the study showed that the developmental coordination disorder was associated with poor physical fitness. These findings support the development of programs to reinforce and help children with poor motor coordination in the educational system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents an abstract of the study 'Psychological Correlates of Physical Fitness in Greek Children,' by K. Karteroliotis, G. Georgiadis and Z. Leroutsou, presented at the 2001 conference of the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity (NASPSPA).