Health Outcomes in Children and Adolescents With Overweight or Obesity Exposed to Physical Activity Interventions: An Umbrella Review Covering Over 1200 Trials.

Abstract

Childhood and adolescent obesity poses health risks. Standardizing outcome measurements in physical activity interventions enhances evidence comparability. This study summarizes health outcomes reported in systematic reviews and classifies them under an existing taxonomy as a preliminary step toward the future development of a core outcome set. Eligible studies were systematic reviews with or without meta-analyses involving children and adolescents (4-19 years) with overweight or obesity, reporting health outcomes from physical activity interventions. Data extraction was performed independently in pairs, collecting study characteristics, intervention details, participant demographics, and outcomes. Outcomes were classified into taxonomy-based domains. This review identified key outcomes in body composition, lipid profile, blood pressure, and physical functioning. The most frequent body composition outcomes were BMI, body weight, and body fat. Lipid profile outcomes included HDL, total cholesterol, and LDL. Blood pressure outcomes comprised systolic and diastolic measurements. Physical functioning was assessed by time spent in physical activity. Among 137 reviews, 841 outcomes were extracted, identifying 169 unique outcomes across 16 domains. The most reported unique outcomes were BMI (52.6%), body weight, body fat, HDL, and systolic blood pressure. This study highlights the need for a Core Outcome Set to standardize outcomes in physical activity interventions for children with overweight or obesity.