The impact of long-term school-based physical activity interventions on body mass index of primary school children – a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Preventive actions and potential obesity interventions for children are mainly researched throughout the school period, either as part of the school curricula or after regular school hours, via interventions mostly lasting less than 12 months. We aimed to perform a meta-analysis on randomized controlled clinical trials to evaluate the evidence of the efficacy of long-term school-based interventions in the management of childhood obesity in terms of BMI from a dietary and physical activity-based approach. Eleven randomized controlled clinical trials were examined using the random effects model, and the results showed that there were no significant effects associated with physical activity + nutrition intervention in school children aged 6–12 years, with a pooled standardized mean difference (SMD) (95% CI) of −0.00 (−0.05, 0.04). No effects were observed after subgroup analysis based on the intervention length. The findings from our study indicate that long-term school-based interventions on physical activity and dietary habits received by children aged 6–12 years seem to have no effect on BMI. However, the promotion of such interventions should not be discouraged, as they promote additional positive health outcomes for other domains of children’s health.

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The impact of physical activity on blood inflammatory cytokines and neuroprotective factors in individuals with mild cognitive impairment: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized-controlled trials

Aging Clinical and Experimental Research ◽

10.1007/s40520-021-02069-6 ◽

2022 ◽

Author(s):

Chuyi Ma ◽

Miaoran Lin ◽

Jiahui Gao ◽

Shurui Xu ◽

Li Huang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Systematic Review ◽

Cognitive Impairment ◽

Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽

Randomized Controlled Trials ◽

Inflammatory Cytokines ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Controlled Trials ◽

Randomized Controlled ◽

The Impact

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Effectiveness of school-based physical activity programmes on cardiorespiratory fitness in children: a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials

British Journal of Sports Medicine ◽

10.1136/bjsports-2017-097600 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 52 (19) ◽

pp. 1234-1240 ◽

Cited By ~ 27

Author(s):

Diana P Pozuelo-Carrascosa ◽

Antonio García-Hermoso ◽

Celia Álvarez-Bueno ◽

Mairena Sánchez-López ◽

Vicente Martinez-Vizcaino

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Cardiorespiratory Fitness ◽

Randomised Controlled Trials ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Controlled Trials ◽

Healthy Children ◽

Physical Activity Interventions ◽

School Based ◽

Registration Number ◽

Randomised Controlled

ObjectiveTo conduct a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials aimed at testing whether school-based physical activity programmes improve cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) in children.DesignSystematic review with meta-analysis.Data sourcesUsing keywords, we performed a computerised search in five databases: MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, Web of Science and SportDiscus.Eligibility criteria for selecting studiesStudies that assessed the effectiveness of school-based physical activity programmes on improving CRF in children (3–12 years old). We selected interventions that included an additional physical activity programme and not only a physical activity educational component. The reference lists of selected full-text articles and systematic reviews were also searched for relevant studies. Pooled effect size (Hedges′ g) was calculated assuming a random-effects model.ResultsTwenty trials with 7287 healthy children aged 3–12 years were included in the meta-analysis. School-based physical activity interventions with aerobic games and activities were associated with a significant small increase in CRF (Hedges′ g=0.22; 95% CI 0.14 to 0.30; p<0.001). Based on subgroup analysis, the increase in CRF was significant in girls (Hedges′ g=0.25; 95% CI 0.13 to 0.37; p<0.001), but not in boys (Hedges′ g=0.02; 95% CI −0.10 to 0.14; p=0.731).SummaryModerate quality evidence supports the effectiveness of school-based physical activity interventions on improving CRF in children.Trial registration numberProtocol PROSPERO registration number CRD42016050173.

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Is Culture Expansion Necessary in Autologous Mesenchymal Stromal Cell Therapy to Obtain Superior Results in the Management of Knee Osteoarthritis?—Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Bioengineering ◽

10.3390/bioengineering8120220 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 (12) ◽

pp. 220

Author(s):

Sathish Muthu ◽

Randhi Rama Kartheek ◽

Naveen Jeyaraman ◽

Ramya Lakshmi Rajendran ◽

Manish Khanna ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Knee Osteoarthritis ◽

Randomized Controlled Trials ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Group Analysis ◽

Cochrane Library ◽

Osteoarthritis Of The Knee ◽

Controlled Trials ◽

Randomized Controlled ◽

The Impact

Study Design: Meta-analysis. Objectives: We aimed to analyze the impact of cultured expansion of autologous mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) in the management of osteoarthritis of the knee from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) available in the literature. Materials and Methods: We conducted independent and duplicate electronic database searches including PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library until August 2021 for RCTs analyzing the efficacy and safety of culture-expanded compared to non-cultured autologous MSCs in the management of knee osteoarthritis. The Visual Analog Score (VAS) for pain, Western Ontario McMaster University’s Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC), Lysholm score, Knee Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS), and adverse events were the analyzed outcomes. Analysis was performed in R-platform using OpenMeta [Analyst] software. Results: Overall, 17 studies involving 767 patients were included for analysis. None of the studies made a direct comparison of the culture expanded and non-cultured MSCs, hence we pooled the results of all the included studies of non-cultured and cultured types of MSC sources and made a comparative analysis of the outcomes. At six months, culture expanded MSCs showed significantly better improvement (p < 0.001) in VAS outcome. Uncultured MSCs, on the other hand, demonstrated significant VAS improvement in the long term (12 months) in VAS (p < 0.001), WOMAC (p = 0.025), KOOS score (p = 0.016) where cultured-expanded MSCs failed to demonstrate a significant change. Culturing of MSCs did not significantly increase the complications noted (p = 0.485). On sub-group analysis, adipose-derived uncultured MSCs outperformed culture-expanded MSCs at both short term (six months) and long term (12 months) in functional outcome parameters such as WOMAC (p < 0.001, p = 0.025), Lysholm (p < 0.006), and KOOS (p < 0.003) scores, respectively, compared to their controls. Conclusions: We identified a void in literature evaluating the impact of culture expansion of MSCs for use in knee osteoarthritis. Our indirect analysis of literature showed that culture expansion of autologous MSCs is not a necessary factor to obtain superior results in the management of knee osteoarthritis. Moreover, while using uncultured autologous MSCs, we recommend MSCs of adipose origin to obtain superior functional outcomes. However, we urge future trials of sufficient quality to validate our findings to arrive at a consensus on the need for culture expansion of MSCs for use in cellular therapy of knee osteoarthritis.

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