SynthesisFrontiers in psychiatry2026
Effects of exercise interventions on executive function in autism spectrum disorder: a three-level meta-analytic review.
Synthesis in Frontiers in psychiatry, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
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Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Objective: This study aimed to use a three-level meta-analysis to examine the effects of exercise interventions on executive function (EF) in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and to explore the relationship between exercise dose and intervention effects through subgroup analyses. Methods: A systematic search was conducted in Web of Science, PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library from database inception to November 17, 2025. All included studies were randomized controlled trials. A three-level random-effects model was applied to integrate multiple dependent effect sizes. Hedges' g was used to calculate effect sizes, and negative values indicated improvements in EF following exercise interventions. Study quality was assessed using the PEDro scale, and publication bias was evaluated using Egger's regression and the trim-and-fill method. Results: Seventeen studies involving 626 participants were included. Exercise interventions produced a moderate and significant improvement in EF ( Conclusion: Exercise interventions significantly improve EF in children and adolescents with ASD, with the largest effect sizes observed in interventions lasting ≥10 weeks. Further large-scale studies are needed to clarify dose-response relationships and inform optimal exercise prescriptions. This meta-analysis was designed and reported in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA 2020) guidelines. Systematic review registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/, identifier CRD420251236112.
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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.