Liao
Y, Liao J, Durand CP, Dunton GF.
Sedentary behaviour is emerging as an
independent risk factor for paediatric obesity. Some evidence suggests that
limiting sedentary behaviour alone could be effective in reducing body mass
index (BMI) in children. However, whether adding physical activity and
diet-focused components to sedentary behaviour reduction interventions could
lead to an additive effect is unclear. This meta-analysis aims to assess the
overall effect size of sedentary behaviour interventions on BMI reduction and
to compare whether interventions that have multiple components (sedentary
behaviour, physical activity and diet) have a higher mean effect size than
interventions with single (sedentary behaviour) component. Included studies (n = 25)
were randomized controlled trials of children (<18 years) with intervention
components aimed to reduce sedentary behaviour and measured BMI at pre- and
post-intervention. Effect size was calculated as the mean difference in BMI change between children in an intervention
group and a control group. Results indicated that sedentary behaviour
interventions had a significant effect on BMI reduction. The pooled effect
sizes of multi-component interventions (g = -0.060∼-0.089) did not differ from the single-component
interventions (g = -0.154), and neither of them had a significant
effect size on its own.
Future paediatric obesity interventions may
consider focusing on developing strategies to decrease multiple screen-related
sedentary behaviours.