Prevalence of Brazilian children and adolescents meeting recommended aerobic fitness criteria: a systematic review update for the Report Card Brazil Project

Priscila Custódio Martins; Carlos Alencar Souza Alves Junior; Andressa Ferreira da Silva; Tiago Rodrigues de Lima; Leandro Narciso Santiago; Matheus Silveira Pedroso; Joni Marcio de Farias; Diego Augusto Santos Silva

doi:10.1590/1980-0037.2026v28e108149

Autores/as

Priscila Custódio Martins University of Southern Santa Catarina https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6388-5550
Carlos Alencar Souza Alves Junior Federal Institute of Rio Grande do Sul https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5928-0567
Andressa Ferreira da Silva Federal University of Santa Catarina https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8154-5664
Tiago Rodrigues de Lima Santa Catarina State University https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4568-2255
Leandro Narciso Santiago Federal University of Santa Catarina https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1347-5198
Matheus Silveira Pedroso Federal University of Santa Catarina https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7611-3795
Joni Marcio de Farias University of Southern Santa Catarina https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2843-6482
Diego Augusto Santos Silva Federal University of Santa Catarina https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0489-7906

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1590/1980-0037.2026v28e108149

Palabras clave:

Adolescent health, Brazil, Child health, Oxygen consumption, Physical fitness

Resumen

This study aimed to update the Brazilian evidence on the prevalence of children and adolescents who met the health-related criteria for aerobic fitness. This systematic review is part of the Report Card Brazil Project, and the search for relevant information was conducted in nine databases, limited to the period from January 2020 to January 2025. Studies with different designs were included, provided they allowed the extraction of prevalence data for children and adolescents (aged up to 19 years or with a mean age up to 19 years) who met the health criteria for aerobic fitness. A total of 501 articles were identified, and six studies were included based on their compliance with the eligibility criteria. The prevalence of children and adolescents classified as meeting health-related criteria for aerobic fitness was 43.68% (29.81% for males and 28.55% for females). Regarding age groups, children (six to nine years) showed higher prevalence rates of adequate aerobic fitness (61.02%; n = 1,088) compared to adolescents (10 to 17 years) (31.42%; n = 1,075). When comparing the current findings with those of the previous systematic review from this project, a 62.32% improvement was observed in the prevalence of children and adolescents classified as meeting health criteria for aerobic fitness (26.9% in the previous review). However, despite this increase, more than half of the investigated children and adolescents still do not meet the health criteria for aerobic fitness.

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