The objective was to examine the tracking of obesity from childhood to young adulthood in Slovenia.
A subsample included 4833 children from the Slovenian national sample (n 21 777) who were included ...in the SLOFIT monitoring system from 1997 to 2008, with complete data at 7 years and 18 years.
A 12-year prospective cohort study. Height, weight and triceps skinfold thickness (TSF) were measured at 7, 11, 14 and 18 years. The BMI cut-off points of the International Obesity Taskforce were used to identify excess weight and obesity.
The survey was conducted in Slovenian primary and secondary schools from 1988 to 2008 but only the data from the measurements in 1997, 2001, 2004 and 2008 are presented.
Height, weight and BMI at 18 years were well predicted from childhood and became more predictable with age, while TSF was not. Obese and overweight children had the greatest risk of becoming obese or overweight young adults. The history of their weight shows that 40.0 % of males and 48.6 % of females who were obese at 18 years had already been obese at 7 years.
Overweight or obese Slovenian children are more likely to become overweight or obese adolescents and young adults than reported in other similar European and American studies, which indicates the need for early prevention and treatment of excess weight and obesity.
This study was constructed as a comparison group pre-test/post-test quasi-experiment to assess the effect of the implementation of the PE curriculum by specialist PE teachers on children's physical ...development and physical fitness.
146 classes from 66 Slovenian primary schools were assigned to quasi-test (71) and quasi-control (75) groups. Data from the SLOFIT database was used to compare the differences in physical fitness and development between groups of children whose PE lessons were delivered by specialist PE teachers from the second grade onwards (quasi-test, n = 950) or by generalist teachers in all first three grades (quasi-control, n = 994). The Linear Mixed Model was used to test the influence of specialist PE teachers' teaching.
The quasi-control group showed significantly lower improvement of physical fitness by -0.07 z-score units (95% CI -0.12 to 0.02) compared to the quasi-test group. A significant difference of -0.20 (-0.27 to -0.13) was observed in explosive strength, and of -0.15 (-0.23 to -0.08) in running speed, and in flexibility by -0.22 (-0.29 to -0.14). No significant differences in physical development were observed.
Specialist PE teachers were more successful than generalist teachers in achieving greater improvement of children's physical fitness, but no differences were observed in physical development of quasi-test and quasi-control group.
The aim of this study is to describe trends in overweight and obesity among Slovenian youth for the period 1989-2018. Nearly all schoolchildren in Slovenia had their height and weight measured ...annually, which lead to a total of 6,738,510 data-points during the 30-year period. The IOTF cut-off points and Joinpoint regression were used to examine annual percent change (APC) in overweight and obesity prevalence across 3 age groups (7-10, 11-14 and 15-18 years). Obesity approximately tripled, while overweight doubled between 1989 and late 2000s in both genders. Since then overweight has been steadily decreasing in all 3 age groups for boys and in 7-10-year-old girls. Obesity has also been declining since 2009, but only in the youngest boys and girls (APC = - 1.9, 95% CI = - 3.2 to - 0.6 and APC = - 1.6, 95% CI = - 3.0 to - 0.2, respectively). Unfavourable trends were noted only in 15-18-year-old girls, with obesity rising at an unchanged rate over the past 30 years (APC = 4.8, 95% CI = 4.5-5.1). Overweight and obesity among Slovenian youth has increased dramatically over the last 3 decades. Still, during the last decade this rise has been reversed or at least stopped. This reversal of trends was more marked in boys than in girls, and in young children compared to adolescents.
The Republic of Slovenia implements the largest longitudinal database of child physical fitness in the world-SLOfit. Slovenia has some of the most physically active children globally, and it has ...responded rapidly to incorporate national physical activity (PA) interventions throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite aggressive campaigns to maintain PA at home, the country has seen a tremendous decrease in child physical fitness over the past several months as self-isolation measures have been mandated by national authorities. These trends prompted researchers to create a method of tracking and communicating government decisions which have a direct impact on child physical activity, fitness and overall health (i.e., the SLOfit Barometer). The research team assembled experts for consultation on creation of the SLOfit Barometer after processing preliminary data on 20,000 schoolchildren which found the greatest decline in child physical fitness since systematic testing began more than 30 years ago. Only 2 months of self-isolation erased over 10 years of hard-fought health gains acquired from national public health policies and PA interventions. This crisis in child fitness requires integrated community participation and a robust public health policy response, and with the SLOfit Barometer acting as a national bellwether system, it is envisioned that policy makers and the public will advocate for bold, progressive actions to combat this national health emergency. This surveillance tool tracks government action to combat the increasing child physical inactivity and obesity trends brought on as a direct result of COVID-19 isolation regulations.
Slovenia is a pioneer in the systematic monitoring of physical fitness in children and adolescents. In 1969, a national system for monitoring physical and somatic development, called the Sports ...Educational Chart, was developed and later revised in 1987. Since 1987, all Slovenian primary and secondary schools complete three anthropometric and eight physical fitness measures to assess child development on the population level. The results are processed by the Faculty of Sport, University of Ljubljana, Laboratory of Physical and Motor Development. The Laboratory provides feedback to every schoolchild, class and school. In recent years, advanced IT support was upgraded and renamed as the SLOfit system. Registered users of SLOfit, consist of PE teachers, parents, children, and physicians, who are able to use the on-line application My SLOfit. Through My SLOfit, individuals can follow their development, assess health risks or get advice. The web platform facilitates cooperation between the educational and health system enabling a holistic approach to developmental difficulties. The My SLOfit application works as a powerful communication tool with other platforms, including a website (www.slofit.org), and Facebook. This article presents the basic features of the SLOfit surveillance system and highlights its development as a support tool for efficient, holistic data use.
The changes in Physical Education (PE) curriculum, amount of PE lessons, number of students in class, improvement in class environment, amount and competency of PE teachers and increase of ...extra-curricular and out-of school sport programmes have effects on physical fitness of young people. It is very important to have special concern about this factors/systematic measures in public schools to ensure more equal opportunities for each child.
Abstract Background Preterm (PT) birth and low birth mass (LBW) can impair growth and development of children and may therefore affect their physical performance up to adulthood. Aims Our aim was to ...evaluate long-term consequences of prematurity, especially (an)aerobic exercise capacity and agility up to adulthood, by comparing premature and full-term (FT) individuals. Study design, subjects From 474 subjects born in 1987, who were enrolled into a longitudinal study, 396 (178 PT and 218 FT (with 127 of them LBW)) were followed-up into their early adulthood. Their mass, respiratory status at birth, and results of SLOfit monitoring system (i.e. results of exercise capacity and agility) were monitored on a yearly basis from their age of 8 to 18 years. Data were compared statistically with Student t-test or ANOVA. Outcome measures, results PT (or LBW) individuals performed aerobic (time of 600-meter run of females) and the majority of anaerobic tests (sit-ups, standing broad jump, and time of 60-meter run, but not bent arm hang) worse (p < 0.05) than FT individuals. Before puberty, however, the agility and fine motor tests (arm plate tapping, polygon backwards, and standing reach touch) were performed better (p < 0.05) by PT (or LBW) females, as compared to their FT peers, with no similar results in males. Conclusions Our results clearly demonstrate that prematurity (especially extreme prematurity) diminishes exercise capacity and agility on the long-term scale, therefore, PT children should be encouraged towards more regular participation in physical activities from early childhood onwards.
Abstract
Aim: Objective methods were used to evaluate children's sleep and physical activity over several days in order to test the hypotheses that: (1) low average sleep duration and/or sleep ...efficiency are linked to a low amount of physical activity; and (2) a reduction in sleep quantity and/or sleep efficiency during the night is followed by a decrease in physical activity the following day.
Methods: This is a multi-centre, observational study involving 276 children, aged 10.5-12 years, from diverse urban settings in Croatia, Slovenia and the US. Sleep and activity were monitored for 2-6 days (median = 4) using the Sensewear Armband™ multi-sensor body monitor.
Results: While average sleep duration and efficiency were unrelated to physical activity, within-subjects associations revealed that an extra hour spent in bed during the night was followed by a 16-minute decrease in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (p < 0.001). This was accompanied by a 4.5 kJ/kg and 5.9 kJ/kg lower total daily energy expenditure in boys and girls, respectively (p < 0.001).
Conclusions: This study found no evidence for a link between short sleep and low or reduced physical activity.
Abstract In the last twenty years rapid changes of children and adolescents lifestyles have been observed worldwide. Studies of secular changes show that changes in the lifestyles of children and ...adolescents in developed countries are manifested in increased subcutaneous fat, in higher proportion of overweight population and in deterioration of their motor performance, particularly endurance and strength. Poor physical fitness of children and youth is associated with many preventable diseases and presents a serious current and future public health problem. Regular and quality physical activity (PA) during childhood can lead to improvements in numerous physiological and morphological variables in children and youth. Therefore, school-based PA interventions are important in improvements of PA level of children and their outcomes. One of PA interventional programme has started in Slovenia in September 2014. Recently, this intervention has been offered to schoolchildren between the ages of 10 and 12. Studies of physical development of children aged 10-12 have revealed that the proportion of overweight and obese children in Slovenia has been increasing particularly in this age group and that the physical fitness of these children has been decreasing even more than amongst adolescent youth. Such school-based PA intervention can significantly influence the physical fitness of children. Therefore, the concept of design of new PA interventional programme, grounded on research-based data, is presented to show that the planning of such intervention programme should be based on research evidence and experience, should include modern approaches to programme contents and their delivery, should be organizationally well designed and should also be provided by professionally competent teachers. Key words: concept; intervention programme; pre-pubertal children; primary school; sport---SažetakPosljednjih dvadeset godina brze promjene u životima djece i adolescenata zapažene su na globalnoj razini. Istraživanja svjetovnih promjena pokazala su da se životni stil djece i adolescenata u razvijenim zemljama manifestira povećanjem potkožne masnoće, u većoj proporciji pretilog stanovništva te u pogoršanju njihovih motoričkih postignuća poglavito izdržljivosti i snage. Slaba fizička spremnost djece i mladih povezuje se s mnogim preventivnim oboljenjima te predstavlja ozbiljan javno-zdravstveni problem trenutni i budućnosti. Redovna i kvalitetna fizička aktivnost (PA) u djetinjstvu može dovesti do poboljšanja u mnogim fiziološkim i morfološkim varijablama djece i mladih. Prema tome, intervencije kod školske FA važne su kod poboljšanja razina FA djece i njihovih ishoda. Jedan interventni program FA započeo je u Sloveniji u rujnu 2014. Nedavno je ovaj interventni program ponuđen školskoj djeci u dobi između 9 i 12 godina. Istraživanja vezana uz fizički razvoj djece u dobi od 9-12 godina upućuju na to da je proporcija pretile i gojazne djece u Sloveniji u porastu posebice vezano uz ovu dobnu skupinu te da je fizička spremnost ove djece u opadanju čak više nego među mladim adolescentima. Takva školska intervencija FA može značajno utjecati na fizičku spremnost djece. Prema tome, koncept nacrta novog interventnog programa FA, zasnovan na rezultatima istraživanja prikazuje se kako bi pokazao da planiranje interventnog programa treba biti zasnovan na dokazima istraživanja i iskustva, treba uključivati moderne pristupe sadržaju programa i njegovom ishođenju, organizacijski dobro strukturiran te ga trebaju izvoditi profesionalno kompetentni nastavnici.Ključne riječi: djeca u pred-pubertetu; koncept; osnovna škola; program intervencije; sport
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