ArticleFrontiers in public health2025
School-based physical activity and health-related fitness in Mediterranean students: findings from the DELICIOUS project.
Article in Frontiers in public health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Integrating Biological Maturity into Fitness Assessment and Physical Activity Interventions in Children and Adolescents: A Narrative Review.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Associations of social avoidance and sport engagement with physical health indicators among schoolchildren: a cross-sectional study.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Arabic validation and adaptation of the Screen for Cognitive Impairment in Psychiatry (SCIP-A) in university students: a pilot study.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- The need for tailoring school-based physical activity interventions: preliminary insights into body weight and cross-country differences from the DELICIOUS project.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
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
Background: Physical inactivity among children is a growing public health concern, particularly in Mediterranean countries, where lifestyle changes have contributed to declining physical fitness levels. Structured school-based interventions have shown promise in improving children's health-related physical fitness (HRF), but cross-cultural differences in intervention effectiveness remain understudied. This study, conducted within the DELICIOUS project, evaluates the impact of a standardized physical activity (PA) intervention on HRF components among children (8-10 years) and early adolescents (11-14 years) from five Mediterranean countries: Egypt, Italy, Lebanon, Portugal, and Spain. Methods: A total of 937 participants aged 8-14 years took part in a six-month school-based PA program designed to enhance speed, agility, muscular strength, cardiovascular endurance, and coordination. Physical fitness was assessed using the International Physical Performance Test Profile (IPPTP) before and after the intervention. A three-way repeated measures ANOVA (Time × Age × Country) assessed intervention effects on anthropometric and fitness variables, while a two-way ANOVA (Age × Country) examined the percentage changes in these HRF across age groups and countries. Results: Significant improvements were observed across multiple health-related fitness components, particularly in speed, lower-body power, coordination, muscular endurance, and cardiovascular endurance. Early adolescents (11-14 years) generally showed greater gains than younger children (8-10 years). The magnitude of improvement in fitness outcomes varied by country. Lebanon and Portugal recorded the most substantial gains in sprint, strength, and endurance. Spain and Italy showed relatively smaller improvements, especially among younger participants, whereas Egyptian students demonstrated notable gains in sprint performance and endurance, particularly among early adolescents, along with the most significant BMI reduction observed in the study. BMI remained stable across participants, suggesting that fitness improvements were achieved alongside healthy growth, without adverse changes in body composition. Conclusion: A structured PA intervention can effectively improve HRF in children across Mediterranean countries, though outcomes vary by age and cultural context. These findings highlight the need for tailored, school-based PA programs that consider baseline fitness levels and regional factors. Implementing such interventions could play a crucial role in addressing physical inactivity and fostering long-term health benefits in children.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.