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Table 5 Comparison of portable outdoor play equipment at ECEC on MVPA and sedentary time

From: Environmental and practice factors associated with children’s device-measured physical activity and sedentary time in early childhood education and care centres: a systematic review

Study ID

Study Design

Sample size

Risk of bias

MVPA

Sedentary time

Copeland 2016 [17]

Cross-sectional

388

High

Dowda 2009a [26]

Cross-sectional

299

Low

Gubbels 2018 [55]

Cross-sectional

281

Low

Hannon & Brown 2008

Before-after

64

High

Ng 2020 [27]

Case-control

297

High

Olesen 2013 [56]

Cross-sectional

426

Low

Summary effect direction

  1. Abbreviations: MVPA Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. a = Physical activity promoting v.s. not physical activity promoting ECEC (i.e. ≥ 1 piece of portable outdoor play equipment v.s. no presence of portable outdoor play equipment)
  2. Effect direction: Study level: ▲ = portable outdoor play equipment benefits outcomes (lower sedentary time, higher physical activity);  = portable outdoor play equipment harms outcomes (higher sedentary time, lower physical activity) ■ = (summary) statistics not presented
  3. Summary: ▲ = studies show a beneficial association with portable outdoor play equipment at ECEC