Nigerian youth FitnessGram edge: A bright signal with important caveats

Table 1 FitnessGram healthy fitness zone achievement in Nigerian youth vs typical high-income cohorts

Population/setting	Measure	HFZ aerobic capacity (% meeting)	HFZ BMI/body composition (% meeting)	Key contextual notes
Benue State, Nigeria (ages 9-16)	FitnessGram (PACER, BMI)	82.7% boys; 78.7% girls	94.5% boys; 96.9% girls	High incidental physical activity; LMIC; early urbanization; first African FitnessGram dataset[13]
Typical United States school-based cohorts	FitnessGram (PACER, BMI)	Approximately 55%-60% meeting HFZ aerobic capacity	Approximately 30%-45% meeting BMI HFZ (i.e., approximately 55%-70% failing HFZ)	Higher sedentary behaviour; established childhood obesity epidemic; FitnessGram widely used in school surveillance[15,24]
Selected European cohorts	FitnessGram or equivalent CRF and BMI indices	Approximately 60%-80% meeting aerobic fitness criteria (HFZ or analogous)	Approximately 40%-60% meeting healthy BMI/body composition standards	Variable overweight/obesity prevalence; structured PE common, but high sedentary time; marked cross-country heterogeneity[3,53]

PACER: Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run; LMIC: Low- and middle-income countries; CRF: Cardiorespiratory fitness; HFZ: Healthy fitness zone; BMI: Body mass index.