Physical Activity Programs with Post-Intervention Follow-Up in Children: A Comprehensive Review According to Categories of Intervention

Sally Nguyen, Anna-Luisa Häcker, Melanie Henderson, Tracie Barnett, Marie-Eve Mathieu, Linda Pagani and Jean-Luc Bigras
Additional contact information
Sally Nguyen: Department of Pediatrics, CIRCUIT Center, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC H3T 1J4, Canada
Anna-Luisa Häcker: Technische Universität München, Munich 80992, Germany
Melanie Henderson: Department of Pediatrics, CIRCUIT Center, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC H3T 1J4, Canada
Tracie Barnett: Sainte-Justine UHC Research Center, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC H3T 1C5, Canada
Marie-Eve Mathieu: Sainte-Justine UHC Research Center, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC H3T 1C5, Canada
Linda Pagani: Sainte-Justine UHC Research Center, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC H3T 1C5, Canada
Jean-Luc Bigras: Department of Pediatrics, CIRCUIT Center, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC H3T 1J4, Canada

IJERPH, 2016, vol. 13, issue 7, 1-17

Abstract: Only 9% of Canadian children meet the National Guidelines of 60 min of daily moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity. The aim of this review is to assess the mid- and long-term effectiveness of physical activity interventions and their impact on cardiovascular risk factors in children. We assessed the success of interventions within three different categories: those using a behavioural and social approach, an informational approach or an environmental approach. The average number of children included in these studies was 860 (range of 30–5106); the age range was from 2 to 18 years; and the mean intervention duration was 1607 min (range of 12–8160 min). The length of follow-up post-intervention averaged 13 months (ranging from 0.25 to 96 months). A positive impact on physical activity was found in 74% and on any measured outcomes in 90% of the studies reviewed. However, the benefits of physical activity interventions decreased with longer follow-up. Regardless of the approaches, physical activity interventions improved cardiovascular risk factors. However, the challenge of any program is to maintain beneficial effects once the intervention is completed. These findings will inform the development of future intervention programs in order to optimize sustained cardiovascular benefits.

Keywords: physical activity; cardiovascular risk factors; children; adolescents; intervention (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/13/7/664/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/13/7/664/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:13:y:2016:i:7:p:664-:d:73149

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().