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Meta-Analysis
. 2022 Oct 28;19(21):14081.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph192114081.

The Effect of Physical Activity on Motor Skills of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Meta-Analysis

Carlos Eduardo Monteiro  1 , Elirez Da Silva  2 , Ravini Sodré  2 , Frederico Costa  3 , André Soares Trindade  4 , Priscila Bunn  2 , Gabriel Costa E Silva  5   6 , Fabrízio Di Masi  6 , Estélio Dantas  1
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

The Effect of Physical Activity on Motor Skills of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Meta-Analysis

Carlos Eduardo Monteiro et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Objective: The present study was aimed at analyzing the effect of physical activity on motor coordination in children with ASD.

Methods: On 28 June 2021, a systematic review with meta-analysis was performed using the following databases: MEDLINE, SciELO, LILACS, PEDro, SPORTDiscus, CINAHL, SCOPUS, Web of Science, Cochrane, and Science Direct. We analyzed the methodological quality and risk of bias using the Jadad scale and Cochrane tool, respectively. Motor coordination results were meta-analyzed using the RevMan program. Two independent researchers used the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) tool to assess the level of evidence from the meta-analysis.

Results: We found four studies in the listed databases and five randomized clinical trials were included in the meta-analysis that included 109 children with ASD. Children with ASD who performed physical activity did not present significantly better motor coordination than control children (p = 0.12).

Conclusions: Considering the clinical importance of physical activity for children with ASD, this systematic review with meta-analysis showed that physical activity had no statistically significant effects on coordination in individuals with ASD.

Keywords: motor coordination; neurology; physical exercise.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow chart of study search. Four randomized controlled trials were included, but meta-analyses were performed on five studies, because the study by Hassani [24] used two experimental groups performing physical activities.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Forest plot of results of motor skills for children who did some kind of physical activity vs. controls. Four randomized controlled trials were included, but five results were included in meta-analysis, because the study by Hassani [24] used two experimental groups performing physical activities.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Funnel plot and Egger test to verify suspected publication bias. Egger: bias = 1.922 (95% CI = −17.303329 to 21.14733), p = 0.7712. Four randomized controlled trials were included, but five results were included in meta-analysis, because the study by Hassani [24] used two experimental groups performing physical activities.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Level of evidence of meta-analysis. CI, confidence interval.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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