Introduction: Both Estonia and Lithuania have a long history of pediatric fitness testing, but due to a lack of standardized test batteries spanning a substantial number of years, secular changes in fitness test performance have not been previously reported. Using the Eurofit test battery, the aim of this study was to quantify the secular changes in fitness test performance of Estonian and Lithuanian children and adolescents during the first ten years of independence.
Methods: Two cross-sectional surveys of Estonian and Lithuanian 11- to 17-year-old tested on the Eurofit in 1992 and 2002 were compared. Secular changes were calculated by first, expressing mean values (at the country x age x sex x test level) in 2002 as a percentage of mean values in 1992, and second, by subtracting 100 from the resultant and then dividing 10 to express the changes as percentage changes per annum (p.a.). Negative values indicated secular declines, and positive values secular improvements.
Results: Secular changes in Eurofit test performance were calculated for 12,226 Estonian and Lithuanian children and adolescents over the 10-year period. Across all Eurofit tests, secular changes ranged on average from -0.98 to +0.49% p.a., with performances less variable for Estonian children than for Lithuanian children. Secular changes were strikingly consistent across age and sex groups.
Discussion/conclusion: This is the first study to have described the secular changes in Eurofit test performance of children and adolescents from the Baltic states. It shows that between 1992 and 2002, changes in Eurofit performance varied among tests and were not always in line with European and global changes.