Physical Fitness Profiles Among Children and Adolescents With ADHD and ASD: A Comparison With Typically Developing Peers.

Recruitment was limited to mainstream schools in one region of Spain, so children with more severe difficulties, or those attending special schools or clinics, are not represented. The authors say this may be why body weight was so uniform across groups. No separate age groups were analysed, so the children's fitness could not be placed against EUROFIT age-based reference values, and grouping 6- to 18-year-olds together mixes children at very different stages of development. The authors list both as limitations. The clinical groups were small next to the comparison group: 80 children with ADHD and 36 with autism against 1413 typically developing children. Diagnoses were confirmed through the schools' guidance and counselling services after the fitness tests, rather than through a clinical assessment. The children were measured once, at a single point in time, so the study cannot show whether lower fitness comes before or after these diagnoses, or whether it changes with training.

The authors state they have nothing to report for funding and declare no conflicts of interest. The study was approved by the ethics committee of the Faculty of Education and Sport Science at the University of Vigo, Spain.

Do not read the standing broad jump numbers as evidence that children with ADHD are stronger than their peers. The children with ADHD in this sample were older on average (13.2 years versus 11.5 years), and once age and sex were taken into account the jumping difference between the ADHD and typically developing groups disappeared.