Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33824160›Full record

SynthesisThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2021

Promoting physical activity in primary care: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Veronika van der Wardt, Claudio di Lorito, Annika Viniol

Erratum issuedOpen access · hybridAbstract readMeta-AnalysisSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 35 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
35citing papers in PubMed, 5 pooled it
4.8field-weighted citation impact, top 4% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

35 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 55 citations in OpenAlex.

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  4. Motivational Interviewing in Pediatric Obesity: A Meta-analysis of the Effects on Behavioral Outcomes.Annals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine · 2023
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  6. The Park RX RCT: Impact on Physical Activity Among Youth.American journal of preventive medicine · 2026
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Veronika van der WardtDepartment of Primary Care, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Marburg, Germany.
Claudio di LoritoDivision of Rehabilitation, Ageing and Wellbeing, Queen's Medical Centre, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.
Annika ViniolDepartment of Primary Care, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Marburg, Germany.
Philipps University of Marburg · DE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundPromoting physical activity is an important part of patient care in primary care and has been investigated in many studies with a wide range of intervention characteristics, often including external support. It is unclear, however, if promoting physical activity is effective.

aimTo investigate the effectiveness of behaviour change interventions to promote physical activity in primary care. DESIGN AND

settingThis is a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate physical activity promotion in a primary care setting.

methodEMBASE, MEDLINE, PsycInfo, and the Joanna Briggs Institute Database were searched for 'physical activity', 'interview', 'motivation', 'primary care', and equivalent words to identify randomised controlled trials with physical activity as the outcome at patient level.

resultsThe review identified 25 eligible studies. The quality appraisal showed that most studies reported insufficient details regarding randomisation, group allocation, blinding, and fidelity of intervention delivery. The included studies reported a wide range of interventions with varying numbers of follow-up visits or phone calls. The overall effect size for interventions with a 6-month follow-up interval was 0.04 (95% confidence interval [CI] = -0.06 to 0.14), and for interventions with a 12-month follow-up interval it was 0.20 (95% CI = 0.04 to 0.36). Only one intervention based on three motivational interviewing sessions achieved a moderate effect.

conclusionCounselling to promote physical activity in primary care has a limited effect on patients' behaviour and it might not, on its own, be enough to change physical activity behaviour.

Indexed as

ExerciseMotivational InterviewingHumansPrimary Health Carebehaviour changefamily practicemotivationphysical activityprimary health care

Identifiers

PMID33824160
PMCPMC8049206
OpenAlexW3127972094

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.