Department of Exercise Science, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC.
Departments of Psychology and Physical Therapy, Movement and Rehabilitation Sciences, Northeastern University, Boston, MA.
Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2019 Jun;51(6):1282-1291. doi: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000001940.
Physical activity is known to provide important health benefits in school-age youth. However, until recently, few studies have examined associations between physical activity and health in young children. The purpose of this study was to conduct a systematic review of the relationship between physical activity and selected health outcomes in children younger than 6 yr.
A systematic search identified randomized controlled trials and prospective cohort studies examining the associations between physical activity and adiposity/weight status, bone health, cardiometabolic health, and cognition in children younger than 6 yr.
Twenty-seven studies met inclusion criteria and served as the basis for this systematic review. For weight status/adiposity, 12 of 15 studies found negative associations between physical activity and one or more measures of the outcome. For bone health, 10 articles based on four studies were identified, and nine studies showed stronger bone in more active children. For cardiometabolic health, three studies were identified and findings were limited and inconsistent. For cognition, two systematic reviews were identified and findings were limited. For all four health outcomes, evidence of dose-response relationships and effect modification by demographic factors was very limited.
There is strong evidence indicating that higher amounts of physical activity are associated with better indicators of bone health and with reduced risk for excessive increases in weight and adiposity in children 3 to 6 yr. Evidence was too limited to support conclusions regarding the effects of physical activity on cardiometabolic health and cognition.
众所周知，身体活动对学龄期青少年的健康有益。然而，直到最近，很少有研究调查身体活动与幼儿健康之间的关系。本研究的目的是系统回顾身体活动与 6 岁以下儿童某些健康结果之间的关系。
系统搜索确定了随机对照试验和前瞻性队列研究，这些研究调查了身体活动与肥胖/体重状况、骨骼健康、心脏代谢健康和认知之间的关系在 6 岁以下的儿童中。
27 项研究符合纳入标准，为本系统评价提供了依据。对于体重状况/肥胖，15 项研究中有 12 项发现身体活动与一种或多种结果测量值之间存在负相关。对于骨骼健康，确定了基于四项研究的 10 篇文章，其中 9 项研究表明，更活跃的儿童骨骼更强壮。对于心脏代谢健康，确定了三项研究，但研究结果有限且不一致。对于认知，确定了两项系统评价，但研究结果有限。对于所有四个健康结果，关于剂量-反应关系和人口统计学因素的影响修饰的证据非常有限。
有强有力的证据表明，较高水平的身体活动与更好的骨骼健康指标以及 3 至 6 岁儿童体重和肥胖过度增加的风险降低有关。关于身体活动对心脏代谢健康和认知的影响，证据过于有限，无法得出结论。
