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Meta-Analysis
. 2021 Feb;22(2):e13160.
doi: 10.1111/obr.13160.

Comparative effectiveness of school-based interventions targeting physical activity, physical fitness or sedentary behaviour on obesity prevention in 6- to 12-year-old children: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Hrvoje Podnar  1 , Petra Jurić  1 , Josip Karuc  1 , Marc Saez  2   3 , Maria A Barceló  2   3 , Ivan Radman  1 , Gregor Starc  4 , Gregor Jurak  4 , Saša Đurić  4 , Žan Luca Potočnik  4 , Maroje Sorić  1   4
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Comparative effectiveness of school-based interventions targeting physical activity, physical fitness or sedentary behaviour on obesity prevention in 6- to 12-year-old children: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Hrvoje Podnar et al. Obes Rev. 2021 Feb.

Abstract

A systematic search of the literature was performed to compare the effects of interventions that targeted sedentary behaviours or physical activity (PA) or physical fitness on primary prevention of obesity in 6- to 12-year-old children. The search identified 146 reports that provided relevant data for meta-analysis. Point estimates in % body fat were higher for fitness interventions compared with PA interventions (standardized mean difference = -0.11%; 95% CI = -0.26 to 0.04, and -0.04%; 95% CI = -0.15 to 0.06, respectively). Including sedentary behaviour to a PA- or fitness-oriented intervention was not accompanied by an increase in intervention effectiveness, as the point estimates were slightly smaller compared with those for PA- or fitness-only interventions. Overall, the effects tended to be larger in girls than in boys, especially for PA + sedentary behaviour interventions. There was some evidence for inequality, as the effects on body mass index were seen when interventions were delivered in the general population (standardized mean difference = -0.05, 95% CI = -0.07 to -0.02), but not in groups of disadvantaged children (standardized mean difference = -0.01, 95% CI = -0.29 to 0.19). In conclusion, school-based PA interventions appear to be an effective strategy in the primary prevention of childhood obesity among 6- to 12-year-old children, but targeting sedentary behaviour in addition to PA or fitness does not increase the effectiveness of the intervention.

Keywords: BMI; body fat; overweight; screen time.

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References

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