Comment on Marsigliante et al. Effects on Children’s Physical and Mental Well-Being of a Physical-Activity-Based School Intervention Program: A Randomized Study. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20, 1927

Raphiel Murden (), Jon Agley, Lilian Golzarri-Arroyo, Armando Peña, Danny Valdez, Abu Bakkar Siddique, Moonseong Heo and David B. Allison
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Raphiel Murden: Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
Jon Agley: Department of Applied Health Science, School of Public Health-Bloomington, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN 46805, USA
Lilian Golzarri-Arroyo: Biostatistics Consulting Center, School of Public Health-Bloomington, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN 46805, USA
Armando Peña: Department of Health and Wellness Design, School of Public Health-Bloomington, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN 46805, USA
Danny Valdez: Department of Applied Health Science, School of Public Health-Bloomington, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN 46805, USA
Abu Bakkar Siddique: School of Public Administration, Florida Atlantic University, 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton, FL 33431, USA
Moonseong Heo: Department of Public Health Sciences, College of Behavioral, Social and Health Sciences, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634, USA
David B. Allison: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health-Bloomington, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 23, 1-5

Abstract: We conducted a critical review of the article “Effects on Children’s Physical and Mental Well-Being of a Physical-Activity-Based School Intervention Program: A Randomized Study”, published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health in 2023 as part of the Special Issue “Psychomotricity and Physical Education in School Health”. We identified multiple mistakes in the statistical analyses applied. First, the authors claim to have found a statistically significant association between the proposed intervention and change in body composition (body mass index (BMI) percentiles, relative fat mass, and BMI classes) by way of exhibiting differences in nominal significance between the pre- and post-intervention changes within the control and intervention groups, instead of exhibiting a significant difference between groups. Furthermore, the analysis described fails to account for clustering and nesting in the data. The reporting of the statistical methods and results include multiple elements that are variously incorrect, incoherent, or impossible. Revised statistical analyses are proposed which can render the study’s methods valid and its results substantiated, whereas the current methods and results are invalid and unsubstantiated, respectively.

Keywords: physical activity; pediatric well-being; randomized clinical trials; clustered randomized trials (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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