21
views
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
0 collections
    0
    shares
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: not found

      Effects of chronic exercise interventions on executive function among children and adolescents: a systematic review with meta-analysis

      , ,
      British Journal of Sports Medicine
      BMJ

      Read this article at

      ScienceOpenPublisherPubMed
      Bookmark
          There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

          Abstract

          Objective

          To synthesise randomised controlled trials (RCTs) regarding the effects of chronic exercise interventions on different domain-specific executive functions (EFs) among children and adolescents.

          Design

          Systematic review with meta-analysis.

          Data sources

          PsycINFO, PubMed, SPORTDiscus, Academic Search Premier, Embase and Web of Science were searched.

          Eligibility criteria for selecting studies

          RCTs or cluster RCT design, which employ chronic exercise interventions and target healthy children (age 6–12 years) and adolescents (age 13–17 years). We defined chronic exercise as physical activity (PA) which consists of multiple exercise sessions per week and lasts for an extended period of time (typically over 6 weeks).

          Results

          We included 19 studies, with a total of 5038 participants. The results showed that chronic exercise interventions improved overall EFs (standardised mean difference (SMD)=0.20, 95% CI 0.09 to 0.30, p<0.05) and inhibitory control (SMD=0.26, 95% CI 0.08 to 0.45, P<0.05). In meta regression, higher body mass index was associated with greater improvements in overall EFs performance (β=0.03, 95% CI 0.0002 to 0.06, p<0.05), whereas age and exercise duration were not. In subgroup analysis by intervention modality, sports and PA programme (SMD=0.21, 95% CI 0.12 to 0.31, p<0.05) and curricular PA (SMD=0.39, 95% CI 0.08 to 0.69, p<0.05) improved overall EFs performance, but integrated PA did not (SMD=0.02, 95% CI −0.05 to 0.09, p>0.05). Interventions with a session length < 90 minutes improved overall EFs performance (SMD=0.24, 95%CI 0.10 to 0.39, p=0.02), but session length ≥ 90 minutes did not (SMD=0.05, 95%CI -0.03 to 0.14). No other moderator was found to have an effect.

          Conclusions

          Despite small effect sizes, chronic exercise interventions, implemented in curricular or sports and PA programme settings, might be a promising way to promote multiple aspects of executive functions, especially inhibitory control.

          Related collections

          Author and article information

          Journal
          British Journal of Sports Medicine
          Br J Sports Med
          BMJ
          0306-3674
          1473-0480
          February 08 2019
          : bjsports-2018-099825
          Article
          10.1136/bjsports-2018-099825
          30737201
          c7441691-6d91-41cb-9a19-0a8815f9bb5c
          © 2019
          History

          Comments

          Comment on this article