BACKGROUND This prospective longitudinal study investigates whether suspected motor problems and low preference for active play in childhood are associated with physical inactivity and low cardiorespiratory fitness in adolescence. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS The study sample consisted of the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 (NFBC 1986) composed of 5,767 children whose parents responded t...

Purpose: To assess physical fitness, gross motor capacity, and their relationship in children with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1). 
 Materials Methods: Children NF1 (n=40, age 6-17, mean 9.70±3.8 years) typically developing (TDC) (n= 28, 5,5-17,5, 11.35±3.0 were evaluated by the six-minute walking test, sit-up sit-and-reach flamingo balance test body mass index. Gross capacity was assessed...

PURPOSE To determine whether childhood fundamental motor skill proficiency predicts subsequent adolescent cardiorespiratory fitness. METHODS In 2000, children's proficiency in a battery of skills was assessed as part of an elementary school-based intervention. Participants were followed up during 2006/2007 as part of the Physical Activity and Skills Study, and cardiorespiratory fitness was me...

AIM Gross motor performance appears to be impaired in children with psychiatric disorders but little is known about which skill domains are affected in each disorder, nor about possible accompanying deficits in physical fitness. The present study has sought to provide information about these issues in children with emotional, behavioural, and pervasive developmental disorders (PDD). METHOD On...

BACKGROUND State school physical education (PE) programmes are common throughout Greece. However, it is not known if the main objectives of the Greek PE curriculum are achieved. OBJECTIVE To assess the current national PE curriculum in relation to selected motor and cardiovascular health related fitness parameters. METHODS A sample of 84 Greek schoolboys (mean (SD) age 13.6 (0.3) years, hei...