SynthesisFrontiers in psychology2024
Effects of aerobic exercise on executive function among overweight and obese children: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Frontiers in psychology, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers, 3 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
5 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Effects of before-school physical activity programs on preschool and school children: a systematic review.Frontiers in public health · 2026Pooled it
- Effects of physical exercise on aggressive behavior in children and adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC public health · 2025Pooled it
- Effects of exercise on cognitive function in children and adolescents with overweight or obesity: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Frontiers in public health · 2025Pooled it
- Effects of obesity on brain health and cognition.Nature reviews. Neurology · 2026Review
- When more is not always better: exercise dose and children's cognitive development from an interpretable machine learning perspective.Frontiers in psychiatry · 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
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Objective: Overweight and obesity are serious public health issues worldwide and significantly impair children's executive function (EF). However, there is no consensus regarding the benefits of aerobic exercise, on the EF of overweight and obese children. This study systematically evaluated the intervention effects of aerobic exercise on EF and its subcomponents (inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility) in overweight and obese children. Methods: We searched six databases-PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Embase, EBSCOhost, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure-until March 17, 2024 for randomized controlled trials examining the effects of aerobic exercise on the EF of overweight and obese children the Cochrane Risk of Bias Assessment Tool. Following heterogeneity testing, RevMan 5.4 and Stata 17.0 were used for meta-analysis and subgroup analysis of the three indicators. The standardized mean difference (SMD) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were used as statistical measures for effect analysis with the SMD value as the effect size and a Results: Eighteen studies involving 1,260 participants were included. Aerobic exercise significantly improved overall EF (SMD = -0.50, 95% CI [-0.68, -0.32], Conclusion: Aerobic exercise selectively improved EF in overweight and obese children. Subgroup analysis indicated that cognitive engagement in ball game interventions of at least moderate intensity and a single session of 25-40 min are more beneficial for improving EF in overweight and obese children. Extremely obese children (BMI > 25 kg/m
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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.