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Abstract
Objective To test a physical activity intervention (MOVI-KIDS) on obesity indicators, physical fitness and blood pressure (BP) in children.
Methods A crossover randomised cluster trial was conducted, which comprised 1434 children (4–7 years old) from 21 schools in the provinces of Cuenca and Ciudad Real in the Castilla-La Mancha region of Spain. The intervention consisted of three 60 min sessions/week on weekdays between October 2013 and May 2014. Changes in anthropometric variables, physical fitness and BP parameters were measured. The analyses used were mixed regression models to adjust for baseline covariates under cluster randomisation.
Results There was no significant improvement in overweight/obesity with the intervention compared with the control group in both sexes. Further, the intervention did not alter other adiposity indicators or BP parameters. Improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness were seen in girls (1.19; 95% CI 0.31 to 2.08; p=0.008), but not in boys. Finally, there was an improvement in velocity/agility in both girls (−2.51 s; 95% CI −3.98 to −1.05; p=0.001) and boys (−2.35 s; 95% CI −3.71 to −0.98; p=0.001), and in muscular strength in both girls (0.66; 95% CI 0.03 to 1.28; p=0.038) and boys (1.26; 95% CI 0.03 to 1.28; p<0.001).
Conclusion MOVI-KIDS was not successful in reducing the adiposity and maintained BP levels at previous healthy values in children. The intervention, however, showed significant improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness in girls, and muscular strength and velocity/agility in boys and girls.
Trial registration number NCT01971840; Post-results.
- children
- physical fitness
- school
- intervention effectiveness
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Footnotes
Contributors DPP-C, VM-V and IC-R conceptualised and designed the study with the support of JCG-P and MS-L. VM-V drafted the initial manuscript and together with DPP-C, IC-R and MS-L approved the final manuscript as submitted. DPP-C, IC-R, MS-L, MG-M and VM-V designed the data collection instruments, and coordinated and supervised data collection. DPP-C, IC-R, VM-V, MS-M, MG-M, AD-F, AR-H and MS-L were involved in the analysis and interpretation of data and reviewed the manuscript, approving the final manuscript as submitted.
Funding This study was funded by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness- Carlos III Health Institute and FEDER funds (FIS PI12/00761). Additional funding was obtained from the Research Network on Preventative Activities and Health Promotion (RD12/0005/0009). DPP-C (FPU14/01370) and MG-M (FPU15/03847) are recipients of a predoctoral fellowship by the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport. IC-R is supported by a postdoctoral grant (FPU13/01582) from Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Spain.
Competing interests None declared.
Patient consent Not required.
Ethics approval The study protocol was approved by the clinical research ethics committee of Hospital Virgen de la Luz of Cuenca. All children and their parents consented to participate in the study after receiving oral and written information about the study objectives and procedures.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
Data sharing statement Data will not be shared, because in this database much of the data do not refer to this article. Data will be available to those authors who need it, by contacting us.