ArticleBMJ open sport & exercise medicine2026
Temporal trends in sports and exercise participation: a study in a population-representative sample of 96 948 European Union adults.
Article in BMJ open sport & exercise medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Temporal trends in sports and exercise participation: a study in a population-representative sample of 96 948 European Union adults.BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 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
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine temporal trends in sports and exercise participation frequency among European Union adults. Methods: We analysed Eurobarometer survey data collected among 96 948 adults from 26 European Union countries in 2009, 2013, 2017 and 2022. Self-reported frequency of sports and exercise participation was categorised as: 'never', 'less than once a month', 'monthly' (1-3 times per month) and 'weekly' (at least once a week). Multilevel ordinal logistic regression was used to analyse trends in sports and exercise participation frequency for the overall sample and by gender, age, marital status, employment, place of residence, number of household members and country. Results: The prevalence of no participation in sports and exercise increased from 41.7% (95% confidence interval [CI] 40.6% to 42.7%) in 2009 to 45.8% (95% CI 44.8% to 46.8%) in 2022. The frequency of sports and exercise participation decreased from 2009 (reference year) to 2017 (adjusted odds ratio [OR] for 2013=0.96; 95% CI 0.92 to 0.99; OR for 2017=0.87; 95% CI 0.84 to 0.91) and then increased in 2022 (OR=0.92; 95% CI 0.89 to 0.95), suggesting a U-shaped trend (p<0.001). The most concerning trends were found for females, middle-aged adults, those living alone, Denmark, Hungary, Poland, Portugal and Sweden. Conclusion: The persistently high prevalence of no sports participation highlights the need to strengthen the promotion of sports and exercise in the European Union. The focus should be on the population groups and countries with declining frequency of sports and exercise participation.
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.