A sex/gender perspective on interventions to promote children’s and adolescents’ overall physical activity: results from genEffects systematic review

Abstract

Background To evaluate the effects of interventions on children’s and adolescents’ overall physical activity (PA) for boys and girls separately and to appraise the extent to which the studies haven taken sex/gender into account. Methods Systematic review and semi-quantitative analysis. Eleven electronic databases were searched to identify all relevant randomized and non-randomized controlled trials. Studies had to report overall PA as the main outcome to be eligible for inclusion in the review. The main outcomes of the studies is a quantified measure of overall PA. Additionally, all studies had to report sex/gender disaggregated overall PA at baseline and/or follow up and/or explain how they dealt with sex/gender during outcome analysis (i.e., sex/gender adjusted analyses) and/or report that there were no differences in the outcome when looking at sex/gender. PRISMA guidelines were followed. Two authors independently screened studies for eligibility and assessed the risk of bias. Semi-quantitative analyses were conducted to evaluate intervention effects, taking into account the extent to which studies have considered sex/gender aspects. To evaluate sex/gender considerations in primary studies, a newly developed sex/gender checklist was used. The study was registered previously (registration number CRD42018109528). Results In total, 97 articles reporting 94 unique studies with 164 outcomes for overall PA were included in the present review. Average sample size was 829 participants, ranging from five to 9839. Participants’ ages ranged from three to 19 years. Our review shows that overall 35% of PA outcomes had significant effects in increasing overall PA of children and adolescents. Not including single sex/gender studies, 105 out of 120 PA outcomes resulted in same intervention effects for boys and girls. The interventions reported to have similar effects on PA outcomes for boys and girls showed higher quality of reporting sex/gender aspects of measurement instruments, participant flow and intervention content and materials than PA outcomes with effects only in boys or only in girls. Overall, consideration of sex/gender aspects in intervention studies is low. Conclusions There is still a need to address sufficient consideration of sex/gender aspects in developing and implementing interventions in the context of PA.

Associations between combinations of 24‐h movement behaviors and physical fitness among Chinese adolescents: Sex and age disparities

“…Our study demonstrated a stronger association between MVPA and physical fitness in boys and a stronger association between recreational screen time and physical fitness in girls, with clues could be found in previous literature. 18,34,35 First, this might be directly due to the type of MVPA that girls preferred to participate in gymnastics, dancing, or rope skipping, whereas boys tended to participate in climbing, team handball, mountain hiking, or soccer, with the latter presenting greater impact on muscle training and cardiorespiratory endurance. 18 Besides, boys were more likely to take physical activity for enjoyment, while girls were more likely to exercise for fitness, with the former having positive effect on physical activity in turn and thus providing greater contributions on physical fitness.…”

“…As a general rule of thumb, sex difference and age disparity are considered. 13,17,18 As for sex difference, it is well-established that girls tend to take less leisure-time activity and lower-intensity activity than boys in adolescence. 17 As for age disparity, according to China's education system, 13-15 years old is the appropriate age group for junior high school, 16-18 years old is the accordingly age group for senior high school, while 19-22 years old is the just age group for university, thereby these three age groups might present different levels of behaviors owing to various educational pressures and restraints.…”

Lifetime physical activity and the cognitive condition of adults. Research of three independent groups of Polish adults

“…This, in particular, may apply to the females participating in our study who were born before and during the period of Poland's political transition. Irrespective of gender, participation in physical activities is most common in children and adolescents, and it decreases in early adulthood (Schulze et al, 2020).…”

Association Between Risk Factors in Childhood and Sex Differences in Prevalence of Carotid Artery Plaques and Intima‐Media Thickness in Mid‐Adulthood in the Childhood Determinants of Adult Health Study

“… 30 Others have recommended considering sex in the development of interventions to promote physical activity among young subjects. 31 There is some evidence for the effectiveness of universal testing and management of lipids 32 but not blood pressure. 33 Of relevance to the translation of our findings is potential sex differences in the application or effectiveness of such strategies in boys compared to girls, as reported for some health care in adults, 34 but whether these differences apply to children with unknown.…”