Associations between physical activity, fitness, cognitive and academic performance in Swedish adolescents: Findings from a cross-sectional study.

Cardiovascular fitness was weakly positively associated with math grades in Swedish adolescents.

• Sample of 1139 Swedish adolescents with mean age 13.4 years
• Association coefficient: b: 0.18, 95% CI: 0.09, 0.26, β: 0.18
• Multilevel mixed models were used to explore associations
• Physical activity (PA) measured via accelerometry was not significantly associated with math grades

Cardiovascular fitness was weakly positively associated with language (Swedish) grades.

• Association coefficient: b: 0.16, 95% CI: 0.07, 0.25, β: 0.13
• Language grades assessed in Swedish
• PA was not significantly associated with language grades
• The association was characterized as weak

Cardiovascular fitness was weakly positively associated with cognitive performance.

• Association coefficient: b: 0.01, 95% CI: 0.00, 0.02, β: 0.11
• Cognitive performance was assessed via computer-based tests measuring episodic and working memory with 3 tests per domain
• Fitness was assessed using a submaximal ergometer test
• PA was not significantly associated with cognitive performance

Cognitive performance mediated 40% of the associations between cardiovascular fitness and both math and language grades.

• Structural equation modeling was used to perform mediation analyses
• The mediation proportion was 40% for both math and language grades
• This suggests cognitive performance partially explains the fitness-academic performance relationship
• Both direct and indirect pathways from fitness to academic performance were present

Adolescents with parents with short education or foreign-born parents had lower fitness levels and lower grades in math and language.

• Short parental education was defined as ≤12 years of education
• All differences were statistically significant (all p < 0.05)
• Both parental education level and parental country of birth were associated with fitness and academic outcomes
• The authors noted these groups should be specifically targeted in future interventions

Physical activity was not significantly associated with cognitive or academic performance, while fitness was the only significant predictor of these outcomes.

• PA was measured objectively via accelerometry
• Cardiovascular fitness was the sole significant factor among those examined
• The study design was cross-sectional, limiting causal inference
• The sample included 1139 adolescents from Sweden