Covid Pandemic Effects on the Physical Fitness of Primary School Children: Results of the German EMOTIKON Project

Third-graders exhibited lower cardiorespiratory endurance, coordination, speed, and upper limbs muscle power in the Covid cohorts (2020–2022) compared to the pre-pandemic cohorts (2016–2019). Children’s lower limbs muscle power and static balance were higher in the pandemic compared to the pre-pandemic cohorts.Pandemic-related effects on the physical fitness of children are small in effect size, but reflect developmental losses of approximately 5 months for cardiorespiratory endurance, 3 months for coordination, 1 month for speed, and 2 months for upper limbs muscle power. Developmental gains of 1 month were found for lower limbs muscle power and 7 months for static balance. However, pre-pandemic secular trends explain some of the observed changes, especially in lower and upper limbs muscle power, and static balance.Children with delayed school enrollment already exhibited poorer physical fitness than expected for their age before the pandemic. Their physical fitness impairments further increased during the pandemic years.