Physical activity and prospective associations with indicators of health and development in children aged <5 years: a systematic review

Veldman, Sanne L. C.; Chin A Paw, Mai J. M.; Altenburg, Teatske M.

doi:10.1186/s12966-020-01072-w

International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity

Table 1 Summary of results

From: Physical activity and prospective associations with indicators of health and development in children aged <5 years: a systematic review

Health or developmental outcome	Intervention studies^a	Longitudinal studies^a	Total effect and evidence
Body composition (15 studies, 3448 participants)^a
BMI	0 0 0	+ 0 0 0 0 0 - - -	Based on inconsistent findings among the studies with high methodological quality, there is insufficient evidence for the effects of physical activity on body composition in young children (< 5 yrs).
Fat percentage	+ 0 0	+ 0
Fat mass	+	+ + 0 0 0 0
Fat free mass	0	+ + 0
Waist/hip ratio		+
Weight		0 -
Motor development (11 studies, 1281 participants)
Total motor score	+ + + + 0	0	Based on consistent findings among studies with weak-to-moderate methodological quality, there is moderate evidence for the positive effects of physical activity on motor development in young children (< 5 yrs).
Total gross motor score	0
Total fine motor score		0
Locomotor score	+ +
Object control score	+ + 0
Balance score	+ +
Manual dexterity score	0
Gross motor milestones	+	+
Cognitive development (10 studies, 4939 participants)
School outcomes (e.g. math, language)	+ + + + + +	–	Based on consistent findings among studies with weak-to-moderate methodological quality, there is moderate evidence for the positive effects of physical activity on cognitive development in young children (< 5 yrs).
Acute effects (e.g. concentration)	+ + 0
Cardiovascular health (7 studies, 1381 participants)
Blood pressure	+	+ 0	Based on inconsistent findings among the studies with high methodological quality, there is insufficient evidence for the effects of physical activity on cardiovascular health in young children (< 5 yrs).
Insulin		0 0
Triglycerides		+ 0
Cholesterol		0 0
Adiponectin		+
Glucose, leptin, hsCRP		0
Lipoprotein		0
Total metabolic score		+
Serum lipids and lipoproteins		0
Cardiovascular fitness		+ +
Arterial stiffness		+
Social-emotional development (2 studies, 7038 participants)
Behavior		–	Based on inconsistent findings and a limited amount of available studies, there is insufficient evidence for the effects of physical activity on social-emotional development in young children (< 5 yrs).
Quality of Life		0
Bone health (2 studies, 2907 participants)
Bone density		0	Based on inconsistent findings and a limited amount of available studies, there is insufficient evidence for the effects of physical activity on bone health in young children (< 5 yrs).
Fractures		–

^aOnly studies that conducted statistical analyses are included in the summary table; + = study adding evidence for a positive association; − = study adding evidence for a negative association; 0 = study indicating no evidence for an association; ^a = a positive association means positive for children’s health; Bold values = studies of high methodological quality; BMI Body mass index, hsCRP High-sensitivity C-reactive protein

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ISSN: 1479-5868

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