Physical fitness among children and adolescents is an important marker of current and future health. Considering declines in some aspects of physical fitness among children and adolescents, there is a need to set international priorities for research and surveillance to help guide future efforts.

Using a twin-panel Delphi method, two panels identified 36 (panel 1) and 25 (panel 2) research or surveillance priorities. The between-panel agreement was strong, leading to a combined list of the top 10 overall priorities.

The top three priorities identified were the need to (1) “conduct longitudinal studies to assess changes in fitness and associations with health”, (2) “use fitness surveillance to inform decision making”, and (3) “implement regular and consistent international/national fitness surveys using common measures”.