SynthesisNature human behaviour2024
Executive function in children with neurodevelopmental conditions: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Nature human behaviour, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 47 papers, 2 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
47 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Effects of exercise interventions on executive function in school-aged children with ADHD: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC public health · 2025Pooled it
- Effect of vigorous-intensity exercise on the working memory and inhibitory control among children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Italian journal of pediatrics · 2025Pooled it
- Childhood cognitive control as a predictor of long-term clinical and functional outcomes in Tourette syndrome.Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2026Trial
- Comparative effectiveness of 12-week open- and closed-skill exercises on executive function in children with ADHD and developmental dyslexia: a randomized controlled trial.BMC pediatrics · 2026Trial
- The effects of transcranial random noise stimulation on excitation/inhibition balance in ADHD.NeuroImage. Clinical · 2026Trial
- Executive functions as a transdiagnostic endophenotype in developmental psychopathology.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Review
- Autism Predicts Performance on iPad-Administered Tests of Executive Functioning in Preschoolers in Mainland China.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2026Article
- When Development Falls out of Sync: A Developmental Timing Framework for Learning Disabilities.Brain sciences · 2026Review
- Effects of Physical Activity Interventions on Cognitive Flexibility in Children with ADHD: A Systematic Review.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Are School-Aged Children Who Self-Identify as Neurodivergent at Greater Risk of Substance Misuse? A Study of 20 000 Secondary School Students.Child: care, health and development · 2026Article
- Characterisation of Pelvic Floor Muscle Activation in Adults With Intellectual Disability Using Surface Electromyography: A Comparative Cross-Sectional Study.Journal of applied research in intellectual disabilities : JARID · 2026Article
- Preservation of Higher-Order Cognition in Autistic Females: Evidence from Two Deeply-Phenotyped Cohorts in Hong Kong and the United States.Research square · 2026Article
- Inter-Individual Variability of Executive Functioning: a Possible Key to Understand Adaptive Behavior Across ASD and ADHD.Child psychiatry and human development · 2026Article
- The Unique Roles of Executive Function in Co-Occurring Psychopathologies in Autism.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2026Article
- Prenatal neural network organization and later executive function development.Developmental cognitive neuroscience · 2026Article
- Parent- and child-reported executive functioning and response to psychotherapy in pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder: Results from the TECTO study.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2026Article
- The neurodevelopmental spectrum: phenotypic architecture, etiology, predictive utility, and specificity across development.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- Age-stratified individual-specific subspace of autism spectrum disorder based on common orthogonal basis extraction algorithm improves the accuracy of clinical symptoms prediction.BMC psychiatry · 2026Article
- Distinguishing variability in hoarding symptom course across time.BMC psychiatry · 2026Article
- Efficacy of executive function training in preschool children with ASD: a randomized controlled trial.Child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Executive function (EF) delays are well documented in paediatric neurodevelopmental conditions (NDCs). There is no consensus about whether EF delay represents a transdiagnostic feature of NDCs. This systematic review and meta-analysis synthesized 180 studies reporting two or more NDC comparisons on EF, examined differences between NDCs, and the moderating effects of gender, age, publication year, DSM editions and assessment types. Studies using established EF measures across seven domains (attention, fluency, set-shifting, set-switching, response inhibition, planning and working memory) in participants under 18 were included. Summary effects were compared: (1) for all reported NDCs relative to control, (2) for each individual NDC relative to control and (3) between NDC groups. Results confirmed that EF delay was a transdiagnostic feature of neurodevelopmental delay, with a moderate effect size of delay across all NDCs (g = 0.56, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.49-0.63) compared with control. This effect increased with comorbidities (g = 0.72, 95% CI 0.59-0.86), DSM-5 criteria and informant measures. Comparisons between NDCs revealed few differences: children with tic disorders (TD) showed smaller EF delays, children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) showed larger delays in attention, response inhibition, planning and working memory compared with TD and specific learning disorders, while children with autism spectrum disorders showed greater delays on set-switching compared with ADHD. Findings support transdiagnostic models of neurodevelopment to further a developmentally sensitive science that can reveal how EF delays contribute to brain circuitry, symptom profiles and functioning, and ultimately support early interventions and outcomes for all children with NDCs.
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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.