Trial reportJournal of epidemiology and community health2013
Effects of a free school breakfast programme on children's attendance, academic achievement and short-term hunger: results from a stepped-wedge, cluster randomised controlled trial.
Trial report in Journal of epidemiology and community health, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- An Umbrella Review of Systematic Reviews of School-Based Nutrition Interventions to Determine Outcomes Used and Their Measurement Tools.Nutrition reviews · 2026Pooled it
- Effects of policies or interventions that influence the school food environment on children's health and nonhealth outcomes: a systematic review.Nutrition reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Characteristics of successful primary school-based experiential nutrition programmes: a systematic literature review.Public health nutrition · 2021Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Stepped wedge randomised controlled trials: systematic review of studies published between 2010 and 2014.Trials · 2015Pooled it
- Breakfast Is Brain Food? The Effect on Grade Point Average of a Rural Group Randomized Program to Promote School Breakfast.The Journal of school health · 2019Trial
- Do healthy school meals affect illness, allergies and school attendance in 8- to 11-year-old children? A cluster-randomised controlled study.European journal of clinical nutrition · 2015Trial
- Impacts of the Primary School Free Breakfast Initiative on socio-economic inequalities in breakfast consumption among 9-11-year-old schoolchildren in Wales.Public health nutrition · 2014Trial
- Optimal Designs in Open-Cohort Longitudinal Cluster Randomized Trials With a Continuous Outcome.Biometrical journal. Biometrische Zeitschrift · 2026Article
- power swgee: GEE-based power calculations in stepped wedge cluster randomized trials.The Stata journal · 2022Article
- Does a school snack make a difference? An evaluation of the World Food Programme emergency school feeding programme in Lebanon among Lebanese and Syrian refugee children.Public health nutrition · 2022Article
- Prevalence of breakfast skipping among children and adolescents: a cross-sectional population level study.BMC pediatrics · 2022Article
- Household food insecurity and educational outcomes in school-going adolescents in Ghana.Public health nutrition · 2021Article
- School nutrition: Support for providing healthy food and beverage choices in schools.Paediatrics & child health · 2020Review
- Reporting of stepped wedge cluster randomised trials: extension of the CONSORT 2010 statement with explanation and elaboration.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2018Article
- Overnutrition and Scholastic Achievement: Is There a Relationship? An 8-Year Follow-Up Study.Obesity facts · 2018Article
- Skipping breakfast among 8-9 year old children is associated with teacher-reported but not objectively measured academic performance two years later.BMC nutrition · 2017Article
- Stepped wedge cluster randomised trials: a review of the statistical methodology used and available.BMC medical research methodology · 2016Review
- Breakfast and Other Meal Consumption in Adolescents from Southern Poland.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2016Article
- Changes in Eating Behaviours among Czech Children and Adolescents from 2002 to 2014 (HBSC Study).International journal of environmental research and public health · 2015Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundFree school breakfast programmes (SBPs) exist in a number of high-income countries, but their effects on educational outcomes have rarely been evaluated in randomised controlled trials.
methodsA 1-year stepped-wedge, cluster randomised controlled trial was undertaken in 14 New Zealand schools in low socioeconomic resource areas. Participants were 424 children, mean age 9±2 years, 53% female. The intervention was a free daily SBP. The primary outcome was children's school attendance. Secondary outcomes were academic achievement, self-reported grades, sense of belonging at school, behaviour, short-term hunger, breakfast habits and food security.
resultsThere was no statistically significant effect of the breakfast programme on children's school attendance. The odds of children achieving an attendance rate <95% was 0.76 (95% CI 0.56 to 1.02) during the intervention phase and 0.93 (95% CI 0.67 to 1.31) during the control phase, giving an OR of 0.81 (95% CI 0.59 to 1.11), p=0.19. There was a significant decrease in children's self-reported short-term hunger during the intervention phase compared with the control phase, demonstrated by an increase of 8.6 units on the Freddy satiety scale (95% CI 3.4 to 13.7, p=0.001). There were no effects of the intervention on any other outcome.
conclusionsA free SBP did not have a significant effect on children's school attendance or academic achievement but had significant positive effects on children's short-term satiety ratings. More frequent programme attendance may be required to influence school attendance and academic achievement.
trial registrationAustralian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR)-ACTRN12609000854235.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.