Reliability and validity of the modified shuttle test-Paeds to measure cardiorespiratory fitness in children

Background: Investigate the construct validity (known-group and convergent validity) and test-retest reliability of the recently developed test for cardiorespiratory fitness, the Modified Shuttle Test-Paeds (Paeds). Methods A total of 144 participants (6-12y) were tested on the Paeds and 84 children on the 20-meter Shuttle Run test (20m-SRT) to examine construct validity. To evaluate test-retest reliability 46 children were tested twice on the Paeds. Results No gender differences were found but there was an age effect. High correlation was found between Paeds and 20m-SRT (r s =0.78, p < 0.001). The test-retest reliability was good 0.84 (95%CI 0.74–0.91. Conclusion The Paeds appears to be a reliable and valid tool to estimate cardiorespiratory fitness in typically developing children aged 6–12 years. More studies are needed to assess if children do reach aerobic steady state in three minutes and how much of the result of the Paeds can be explained by the agility component of the task (turning and grasping or aiming a bean bag). For clinical use, psychometric properties should be studied in various patient groups (e.g. ADHD and DCD).