BeepShuttle Junior: Software for the Administration of the 20m Shuttle Run Test in Children and Adolescents

Abstract

The 20m shuttle run test (20mSRT) is applied for assessing cardiorespiratory fitness, and is included in many fitness test batteries, such as Eurofit, Alpha-fit, FitnessGram, etc.<br /> The aim of this study was to validate software, specially designed by us (BeepShuttle Junior), which administers the 20mSRT, calculates the maximal oxygen uptake (VO₂max) in children and adolescents from 6 to 17 years of age, and classifies them in accordance with comprehensive gender- and age-specific international norms. This software supports the administration of the 20mSRT with an appropriate animation and audio signals. The most recent VO₂max reference standards were combined in order to assess cardiorespiratory fitness. The results can be exported in an Excel compatible CSV file for additional analyses.<br /> A total of 63 children (31 girls and 32 boys) from London, aged from 6 to 9, were tested with the BeepShuttle Junior software, which calculated VO₂max and percentile scores for each child.<br /> The boys performed significantly better than girls in cardiorespiratory fitness (47.7 ± 3.1 vs 45.9 ± 2.2 ml/kg/min respectively, p < 0.05), but the mean percentile scores for boys and girls were similar (53.2 ± 23.6 and 53.9 ± 22.1 respectively).<br /> This software computes the percentile score for the exact age (years, months) and the exact VO₂max of each participant by linear interpolation. The individual results and assessments completely matched the interpolated normative data tables.