Muscle endurance of Brazilian children and adolescents: a systematic review of the literature

ABSTRACT Muscle endurance (ME) is considered to be an important indicator of health-related fitness in childhood and adolescence. The present study aimed to identify and summarize the evidence on the prevalence of adequate ME in Brazilian children and adolescents (6 to 18 years old). A systematic search of studies published from 2009 to 2019 was performed in six databases (LILACS; SciELO; SportDiscus; Medline/PubMed; Web of Science; Scopus). We found 16,168 articles, 20 of which met the eligibility criteria and were included in this review for data extraction and assessment of their risk of bias. Among the 23,805 children and adolescents participating in the studies, 43.5% of the total (43.7% of boys and 41.0% of girls) had adequate abdominal ME. Different test batteries were reported, the main ones being PROESP/BR®, FITNESSGRAM®, and AAHPERD®. Most studies were carried out in the South (50.0%) and Southeast (20.0%) regions of Brazil. Regarding the distribution of studies by geographic region and human development index (HDI), there were no disparities in ME between studies conducted in regions with a lower HDI (43.1% for the Northeast and 32.2% for the North) and those with a higher HDI (46.8% for the South and 33.1% for the Southeast). We conclude that less than half of Brazilian children and adolescents of both genders have an abdominal ME adequate for health, with slightly lower values among females.