Secular trends of physical fitness for college students in Anhui Province over the past decade

作者：Jianzhong Sun, Hui Liang, Lei Wang, Zhongju Chen, Cunjian Bi, Feng Zhang · 发表于：BMC Public Health · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1186/s12889-025-21613-x · 被引用次数：16 · 研究领域：Body Composition Measurement Techniques、Physical Education and Training Studies、Advanced Technologies in Various Fields

BACKGROUND: Since the beginning of the 21st century, China's economy has experienced rapid growth, resulting in a steady improvement in its citizens' living standards. However, alongside the emergence of modern civilization-related health issues, the overall physical fitness of the population has been declining. In the final year of 2019, a global COVID-19 pandemic emerged and persisted for three years, causing a significant diminution in human physical well-being. This article aims to delve into the changes in the physical fitness of college students over the past decade and anticipates future trends. METHODS: A total of 58,472 university students aged 16-23 from 16 prefecture-level cities in Anhui province were recruited for this study. Total ten physical fitness indicators were tested: body height, body weight, vital capacity, standing long jump, sit-and-reach, 50-m dash, 1000 m run and pull-up (for boys), and 800 m run and sit-ups (for girls).The data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA, LSD tests, and Pearson's correlations. RESULTS: The overall physical fitness scores of college students ranged from 68.71 (2023) to 71.13 (2019) during the last decade, with girls consistently demonstrating superior performance in physical tests. There was a statistically significant difference in physical fitness scores between the periods of 2015-2022 and 2023 (p < 0.05). When dividing the total physical fitness scores into four levels, a noteworthy downward trend was observed in the pass...