

Additionally, during childhood higher cardiorespiratory fitness levels have been associated with a healthier cardiovascular profile in adulthood (Ruiz et al., 2009). Current evidence has shown how cardiorespiratory fitness status is an important quantitative predictor of cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality in healthy adults (Kodama et al., 2009). Nowadays, cardiorespiratory fitness is considered one of the most powerful markers of health, even above other traditional markers such as weight status, blood pressure or cholesterol level (Blair, 2009). Nevertheless, as in the application of any physical fitness field test, evaluators must be aware that the performance score of the 20-m shuttle run test is simply an estimation and not a direct measure of cardiorespiratory fitness. In adults the performance score only seems to be a strong estimator of cardiorespiratory fitness, in contrast among children the performance score should be combined with other variables. When an individual’s maximum oxygen uptake attained during a laboratory-based test is not feasible, the 20-m shuttle run test seems to be a useful alternative for estimating cardiorespiratory fitness. However, sex and maximum oxygen uptake level do not seem to affect the criterion-related validity values.

The present meta-analysis also showed that the criterion-related validity of Léger’s protocol was statistically higher for adults ( r p = 0.94, 0.87-1.00) than for children ( r p = 0.78, 0.72-0.85). sex, age or body mass) were used ( r p = 0.78-0.95). The overall results showed that the performance score of the 20-m shuttle run test had a moderate-to-high criterion-related validity for estimating maximum oxygen uptake ( r p = 0.66-0.84), being higher when other variables (e.g. From 57 studies that were included in the present meta-analysis, a total of 78 correlation values were analyzed.

The Hunter-Schmidt’s psychometric meta-analysis approach was conducted to estimate the population criterion-related validity of the 20-m shuttle run test. Relevant studies were searched from twelve electronic databases up to December 2014, as well as from several alternative modes of searching. The main purpose of the present meta-analysis was to examine the criterion-related validity of the 20-m shuttle run test for estimating cardiorespiratory fitness.
