Effect of exercise interventions on multidimensional health outcomes in children and adolescents with Down syn-drome:a meta-analysis
LIU Dongfei
YAN Huiyi
YANG Fan
ZHANG Shuai
Abstract：Objective To systematically evaluate the effect of exercise interventions on multidimensional health indicators in chil-dren and adolescents with Down syndrome(DS).
Methods Literatures about exercise interventions on multidimensional health outcomes in children and adolescents with DS were searched in CNKI,Wanfang data,VIP,China Biology Medicine disc,Web of Science,PubMed,Co-chrane Library,Embase and other databases from establishment to August 10,2025,according to PICOS.The Co-chrane Risk of Bias Assessment Tool was used to evaluate the quality of the literatures,and Stata 18.0 and Rev-Man 5.4 were used for statistical analysis and publication bias test.
Results A total of 32 studies with 1 057 subjects from 30 publications were included.Meta-analysis showed that exercise intervention significantly improved body composition,balance function,gross motor skills and lower limb mus-cle strength in children and adolescents with DS compared to the control group(P<0.05).Subgroup analyses suggested that the resistance training program of 12 to 24 weeks,one to two times per week,≤30 minutes in a single session was more effective on body mass index;the aerobic exercise program of 24 to 36 weeks,three to four times per week,30 to 60 minutes in a single session was more effective on body fat percentage;the aerobic exercise program of≤12 weeks,three to four times per week,30 to 60 minutes in a single session was more ef-fective on static balance function,while the aerobic exercise program with a single session of≤30 minutes was the most effective on dynamic and functional balance;the aerobic exercise program with≤12 weeks,three to four times per week,and a single session of more than 60 minutes was more effective on the development of gross motor function;and the vibration training program with≤12 weeks,three to four times per week,and a sin-gle session of≤30 minutes was more effective on the strength of knee flexor and extensor muscle groups.
Conclusion Exercise interventions can safely and effectively improve body composition,balance function,gross motor skills and lower extremity muscle strength in children and adolescents with DS.There are specific exercise types and dosage parameters that are more effective on different health outcomes.
Keywords：childrenadolescentsDown syndromeexercisehealth outcomemeta-analysis
Publication Date：2025-12-25
Online Publishing Date：2026-01-06(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：16( 1398-1413 )