Comparison of fitness levels between elementary school children with autism spectrum disorder and age‐matched neurotypically developing children

Low physical fitness is associated with reduced physical activity and increased cardiovascular diseases. To date, limited research has compared physical fitness levels between children with and without autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Therefore, the primary aim was to investigate if differences in fi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Autism research 2021-09, Vol.14 (9), p.2038-2046
Main Authors: Coffey, Craig, Sheehan, Damien, Faigenbaum, Avery D., Healy, Sean, Lloyd, Rhodri S., Kinsella, Sharon
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age
Autism
autistic
Autistic children
Cardiovascular diseases
Child & adolescent psychiatry
Children
cross‐sectional
fitness deficit
fitness measurement
Physical activity
Physical fitness
Regression analysis
Statistical analysis
Statistical methods
youth
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Summary:Low physical fitness is associated with reduced physical activity and increased cardiovascular diseases. To date, limited research has compared physical fitness levels between children with and without autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Therefore, the primary aim was to investigate if differences in fitness levels exist between children with ASD and age‐matched neurotypically developing children (ND). The second aim was to examine if age, sex, height and weight could be used to predict potential fitness levels. The third aim was to examine if the developmental trajectory of fitness is comparable between children with ASD and ND children. The modified Eurofit test battery was used to compare fitness levels between 244 children aged 4–13 years old (n = 152 ND and n = 92 ASD). Independent samples t tests and regression analyses were used to investigate differences in fitness levels between the two groups. The results indicated that statistically significant differences exist in fitness levels between children with ASD when compared to ND children across all ages, favoring the ND children, with small to large effect sizes noted (p 
ISSN:1939-3792
1939-3806
DOI:10.1002/aur.2559