SynthesisBMC public health2017
Impact of school policies on non-communicable disease risk factors - a systematic review.
Synthesis in BMC public health, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 42 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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
42 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Effectiveness of school-based interventions on fundamental movement skills in children: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC public health · 2025Pooled 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
- School-based physical activity programs for promoting physical activity and fitness in children and adolescents aged 6 to 18.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2021Pooled it
- A systematic review of existing observational tools to measure the food and physical activity environment in schools.Health & place · 2020Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Effectiveness of a Mobile Phone-Delivered Multiple Health Behavior Change Intervention (LIFE4YOUth) in Adolescents: Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Trial
- Intervention effects and long-term changes in physical activity and cardiometabolic outcomes among children at risk of noncommunicable diseases in South Africa: a cluster-randomized controlled trial and follow-up analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2023Trial
- School policies, built environment and practices for non-communicable disease (NCD) prevention and control in schools of Delhi, India.PloS one · 2019Trial
- Adolescents' Knowledge and Attitudes Towards NCDs: the Impact of a Novel Preventive School-Based Approach.Prevention science : the official journal of the Society for Prevention Research · 2026Article
- Dismantling structural inequities in global prevention of childhood and adolescent non-communicable diseases.Journal of global health · 2026Article
- Article
- Health behaviours and lifestyle challenges among school children: A qualitative research from Rajasthan, India.PloS one · 2026Article
- Understanding the dynamics of implementing the Norwegian School Fruit Programme: integrating implementation science and system dynamics.Implementation science communications · 2025Article
- Health Education and Its Role in the Prevention and Management of Non-communicable Diseases: A Review.Cureus · 2025Review
- Article
- Understanding what drives schools to adopt effective school-based nutrition programs: a cross-sectional study of barriers and facilitators.Translational behavioral medicine · 2025Article
- Effects of school-based interventions on all 24-hour movement behaviours in young people: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 2025Article
- A qualitative study on facilitators and barriers to adoption and implementation of nutrition interventions in higher education settings in Flanders.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Risk Factors and 20-Year Time-Trend in Childhood Overweight and Obesity in Switzerland: A Repeated Cross-Sectional Study.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Disease Trends in Children and Adolescents in Japan: A Retrospective Observational Study Using the Nationwide Claims Data for 2012-2016.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundGlobally, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are identified as one of the leading causes of mortality. NCDs have several modifiable risk factors including unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, tobacco use and alcohol abuse. Schools provide ideal settings for health promotion, but the effectiveness of school policies in the reduction of risk factors for NCD is not clear. This study reviewed the literature on the impact of school policies on major NCD risk factors.
methodsA systematic review was conducted to identify, collate and synthesize evidence on the effectiveness of school policies on reduction of NCD risk factors. A search strategy was developed to identify the relevant studies on effectiveness of NCD policies in schools for children between the age of 6 to 18 years in Ovid Medline, EMBASE, and Web of Science. Data extraction was conducted using pre-piloted forms. Studies included in the review were assessed for methodological quality using the Effective Public Health Practice Project (EPHPP) quality assessment tool. A narrative synthesis according to the types of outcomes was conducted to present the evidence on the effectiveness of school policies.
resultsOverall, 27 out of 2633 identified studies were included in the review. School policies were comparatively more effective in reducing unhealthy diet, tobacco use, physical inactivity and inflammatory biomarkers as opposed to anthropometric measures, overweight/obesity, and alcohol use. In total, for 103 outcomes independently evaluated within these studies, 48 outcomes (46%) had significant desirable changes when exposed to the school policies. Based on the quality assessment, 18 studies were categorized as weak, six as moderate and three as having strong methodological quality.
conclusionMixed findings were observed concerning effectiveness of school policies in reducing NCD risk factors. The findings demonstrate that schools can be a good setting for initiating positive changes in reducing NCD risk factors, but more research is required with long-term follow up to study the sustainability of such changes.
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Registered trials
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.