The impact of exercise on executive function in overweight and obese children and adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of exercise on executive function in overweight and obese children and adolescents. METHODS: Four databases, including Pubmed, Web of Science, EBSCOHost, and China Knowledge Network, were selected to search for empirical studies related to the effect of exercise on executive function in overweight and obese children and adolescents, and the included literature was assessed for risk bias, and combined effect sizes and subgroup analyses were performed using STATA 14.1 software. RESULTS: 1) The nine included papers were predominantly moderately biased and contained a total of 764 subjects; 2) exercise significantly affected the development of executive function in overweight and obese children and adolescents (SMD=-0.432, 95% CI: -0.764, -0.099, p<0.05), but there were differences between subcomponents that significantly affected the development of working memory and inhibitory control ( SMD=-1.09, 95% CI: -1.94, -0.24, P<0.05; SMD=-0.41, 95% CI: -0.76, -0.06, P0.05); 3) Acute exercise can significantly affect the development of executive function in overweight and obese children and adolescents compared to long-term intervention (SMD=-0.456, 95% CI: -0.893, -0.019, P<0.05); 4) Acute exercise can be performed with a single duration of 40 min (SMD= -1.172, 95% CI: -1.547, -0.706, P<0.01), moderate intensity (SMD= -0.53, 95% CI: -1.04, -0.02, P<0.05), basketball combined with jump rope (SMD= -0.822, 95% CI: - 1.012, -0.632, P<0.01). Conclusions: : 1) exercise improves inhibitory control and working memory in overweight and obese children and adolescents; 2) acute exercise is effective in improving executive function in overweight and obese children and adolescents; and 3) basketball combined with jump rope exercise of single duration 40 min and moderate intensity (60%-69% HRmax) is recommended to improve executive function in overweight and obese children and adolescents.