Reference Values for the Muscle Power Sprint Test (Ref MPST)

February 24, 2025 updated by: Louis Dossche, Erasmus Medical Center

Reference Values for the Muscle Power Sprint Test in Children Aged 5-12 Years

The goal of this prospective, cross-sectional study is to develop updated reference values for the Muscle Power Sprint Test (MPST) in children aged 5-12 years.

The main question it aims to answer is:

• What are reference ('normal') values for the MPST in children aged 5-12 years?

Participants will be asked to perform six short sprints of fifteen meters each, with a ten-second rest between each effort.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

SUMMARY Rationale: Children with congenital abnormalities face risks of below-average lung function and exercise tolerance (1-3). As the standard of care, our tertiary hospital enrolls these children in a prospective, longitudinal follow-up program from birth (4). This program involves regular assessments of overall health and development, including spirometry and exercise tolerance tests conducted by pediatric physiotherapists. Historically, the Bruce treadmill protocol was employed for testing maximal exercise tolerance in children aged 4 and above, but it presented limitations such as high muscular demands of the steep inclines and large workload increments, impacting reliability and potentially causing premature discontinuation (5).

In response, the Bruce protocol was replaced in newer follow-up program versions by the Muscle Power Sprint Test (MPST). Unlike the Bruce protocol, which assesses aerobic capacity, the MPST focuses on anaerobic exercise capacity, which is crucial for children's daily activities like playing with peers (6). Performing the MPST involves six short runs of 15 meters, from which the calculated 'mean power' serves as the primary outcome. The distance covered during these runs corresponds well to the distances children cover during daily play activities.

While Dutch norm values for children aged 6-18 exist, gathered mainly in rural areas between 2012 and 2016, the study highlights the need for updated reference values. Lifestyle changes, exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, underscore the urgency of updating exercise tolerance reference values (7). Notably, there is a current lack of established reference values for 5-year-olds undergoing MPST testing in our longitudinal follow-up program, emphasizing the need for comparative data in this age group.

Objective: Our primary goal is to establish reference values for the MPST for primary school children aged 5-12 belonging to a diverse population living in the Netherlands.

Study design: The study adopts a prospective cross-sectional design.

Study population: Primary school or after-school childcare children aged 5-12 years.

Intervention (if applicable): The MPST, which involves six 15-meter sprints at maximum pace between the two cones/lines, with a 10-second rest in between each effort.

Main study parameters/endpoints: The primary outcome is generating reference values for the MPST for typical children aged 5-12.

Nature and extent of the burden and risks associated with participation, benefit and group relatedness: We believe the risks of experiencing drawbacks from study participation are minimal. The Muscle Power Sprint Test (MPST) is non-invasive, involving six short, consecutive 15-meter sprints - similar to activities children commonly engage in, such as games like tag or hide-and-seek - with a 10-second rest after every run. Individual testing and warm-up rounds further mitigate potential risks, and we estimate the likelihood of injuries or adverse effects to be lower than those encountered in a standard physical education class.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

480

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Locations

  • Netherlands
    • South Holland
      • Rotterdam, South Holland, Netherlands, 3015 GD
        • Recruiting
        • Erasmus MC, Sophia Children's Hospital
        • Contact:

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Age 5-12 years
  • Attending primary education at one of the participating schools or attending participating after-school childcare centers.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Contra-indication for maximal exercise due to cardiac or respiratory morbidities
  • Injuries limiting maximal exercise capacity
  • Known with motor function impairment which may hamper maximal exercise (e.g. neurologic comorbidities)

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Other
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Muscle Power Sprint Test (MPST)
All patients in this arm will be assessed through the MPST. We calculate the mean Power developed during the six short distance sprints, using time needed for each sprint and the weight of the study subject.
Other: Muscle Power Sprint Test
The Muscle Power Sprint Test (MPST) is an easy-to-perform field test of anaerobic capacity for children and adolescents. The only necessities for the administration of this test are an open space, a stopwatch and two cones or lines. Test subjects are encouraged to perform six 15-meter sprints at a maximal pace between the two cones/lines, with a 10-second rest in between each effort. The distance covered during these short runs corresponds well to the distances children cover during daily play activities. The power that is generated with each sprint can be calculated using the formula: power = (total mass x 15 m²)/time³.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Reference values for the MPST for children aged 5-12 years, both male and female.
Time Frame: Data gathering: 6 months, data processing: 6 months.
Reference values for the MPST for children aged 5-12 years, both male and female.
Data gathering: 6 months, data processing: 6 months.

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Erasmus Medical Center

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Marco Schnater, MD, PhD, Erasmus Medical Center

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

December 1, 2024

Primary Completion (Estimated)

June 1, 2025

Study Completion (Estimated)

September 1, 2025

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 4, 2024

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 4, 2024

First Posted (Actual)

June 7, 2024

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

March 25, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 24, 2025

Last Verified

February 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • NL86724.000.24
  • 12322 (Other Identifier: PaNaMa)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

IPD Plan Description

We can share the raw MPST data when requested by other researchers.

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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