SynthesisFrontiers in public health2025
Effects of exercise on cognitive function in children and adolescents with overweight or obesity: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
Synthesis 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 2 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
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Trial
- Physical activity, sedentary behavior, and cognitive function in children and adolescents: a scoping review of dose-response relationships, screen time interactions, and public health implications.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Exercise is a non-pharmacological strategy for enhancing cognitive function among various populations. The aim of our systematic review was to synthesise evidence of the effects of exercise on cognitive function in children and adolescents with overweight or obesity. Methods: A comprehensive search of four databases (Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, EMBASE was conducted from each database inception through 1 April, 2025. This review investigates the impact of exercise intervention on the cognitive function of children and adolescents with overweight or obesity through randomized controlled trials (RCTs). The quality of the included studies was evaluated using the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool 2, and the treatment effects were analyzed through random-effects or fixed-effects models, with Hedges' g serving as the metric for effect size estimation. I Results: The meta-analysis of 15 RCTs, including 1,210 children and adolescents with overweight or obesity revealed that exercise significantly improved executive function ( Conclusion: This study demonstrates that exercise interventions significantly improve executive function and attention in children and adolescents with overweight or obesity. In particular, moderate-intensity aerobic exercise performed more than three times per week, for over 30 min per session, and sustained for at least 10 weeks appears to represent the optimal training parameters for improving executive function. These findings support the use of exercise as a cognitive enhancement strategy. However, larger-scale studies are needed to confirm its effects on other cognitive domains. Systematic review registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/view/CRD420251078572, Identifier: CRD420251078572.
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What Socratic 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 Socratic graph.