Impact of COVID-19 restrictions on motor coordination in Italian school-aged children.

INTRODUCTION: The development of motor coordination (MC) is essential during childhood and is closely influenced by opportunities for physical activity (PA) and sports participation. The COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions may have altered children's motor experiences and the related MC development. To what extent MC has changed in Italian school-aged children from before the pandemic until its end and beyond remains unclear. The aim of this study was to compare the level of MC in Italian school-aged children aged 8-10 years from three independent cohorts (i.e., pre-COVID-19, post-COVID-19, and follow-up COVID-19 restrictions). METHODS: Overall, 449 school aged children aged 8-10 years were included from three independent cohorts (i.e., pre-COVID-19 n = 141; post-COVID-19 n = 139; follow-up COVID-19 restrictions n = 169). The Körperkoordinationstest für Kinder (KTK) was used to assess children's MC. The test consists of four subtests: walking backward (WB) on beams of decreasing widths; moving sideways (MS) on the floor for 20 s; two-legged jumping sideways (JS) over a beam for 15 s; one-legged hopping for height (HH) over an obstacle of increasing height. A Motor Quotient (MQ) was calculated from the sum of the four subtests' scores. The children's PA level was assessed using the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Children (PAQ-C), referring to the previous seven days. All assessments were conducted during physical education classes by the same researchers. RESULTS: The three-way ANOVA revealed significant effects in the Time factor (i.e., pre-COVID-19; post-COVID-19; and follow-up COVID-19 restrictions) in all the subtests. We detected significant reductions from pre- to post- and from pre- to follow-up in all the subtests (except from pre- to post- for the WB subtest), as well as for the MQ score (p < 0.001). A significant effect in the Sex factor was also found, with females showing lower MC levels than males (p = 0.002). Regarding PA levels, significant reductions from pre- to follow-up (p = 0.006) and from post- to follow-up (p = 0.002) were observed, with males reporting higher PA levels than females (p = 0.005). DISCUSSION: When comparing the pre-pandemic cohort with both the post-pandemic cohort and the follow-up cohort, we found higher MC performances. Hence, the COVID-19 restrictions were associated with decreased MC levels in Italian school-aged children aged 8-10 years.