Zolghadr Hamid, Yahyaei Masoumeh, Sedaghati Parisa, Ahmadabadi Somayeh
Department of Sports Injuries and Corrective Exercises, Faculty of Physical Education and Sports Sciences, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran.
Department of Physical Education and Sports Sciences, Farhangian University, P.O. Box 14665-889, Tehran, Iran.
BMC Sports Sci Med Rehabil. 2025 Mar 3;17(1):35. doi: 10.1186/s13102-025-01096-4.
Individuals with Down syndrome have severe difficulties maintaining proper postural control when standing upright. Therefore, the goal of the present review and meta-analysis was to examine the effects of exercise interventions on improving postural control in individuals with Down syndrome.
This systematic review was reported following the PRISMA guidelines; while Cochrane guidelines were adopted for methodological guidance. Reports were searched in PubMed, Science Direct, Physiotherapy Evidence Database scale (PEDro), EMBASE, Web of Science (WOS), Scopus and Google Scholar from 2000 to January 2025. Randomized clinical trials and quasi-experimental studies were assessed in English. Review, meta-analysis, and descriptive studies were excluded from the study. Two researchers screened and evaluated data based on PEO criteria and the quality of studies was assessed using the PEDro scale.
Among between 374 studies, Six articles were included in the present review and meta-analysis. Four studies showed that exercise interventions improve postural control in individuals with Down syndrome. However, the results of 2 studies indicated that exercise interventions do not improve postural control in these individuals. Ultimately, after analyzing the studies, the statistical results showed a significant difference between the intervention group and the control group (p = 0.001), indicating the effectiveness of exercise interventions and subsequent improvement in postural control in individuals with Down syndrome. According to PEDro scale, four studies were low quality, and two were high quality. Also, applying GRADE criteria, there is a "Low" certainty of evidence observed. The mean effect size of the exercises in the 6 included studies in the present review was 0.67, indicating a small effect size.
The exercise interventions improve postural control in individuals with Down syndrome. In addition, Due to the small sample size and the small number of studies included, to deal with the risk of bias in the studies, a new randomized controlled trial with a stronger methodology and large sample size comparing exercises and other strategies or different types of exercises is recommended.
唐氏综合征患者在直立站立时维持适当姿势控制存在严重困难。因此，本综述和荟萃分析的目的是研究运动干预对改善唐氏综合征患者姿势控制的影响。
本系统综述按照PRISMA指南报告；同时采用Cochrane指南进行方法学指导。在2000年至2025年1月期间，在PubMed、Science Direct、物理治疗证据数据库量表（PEDro）、EMBASE、科学网（WOS）、Scopus和谷歌学术搜索报告。对英文的随机临床试验和准实验研究进行评估。本研究排除综述、荟萃分析和描述性研究。两名研究人员根据PEO标准筛选和评估数据，并使用PEDro量表评估研究质量。
在374项研究中，本综述和荟萃分析纳入了6篇文章。四项研究表明，运动干预可改善唐氏综合征患者的姿势控制。然而，两项研究的结果表明，运动干预并不能改善这些患者的姿势控制。最终，在对这些研究进行分析后，统计结果显示干预组和对照组之间存在显著差异（p = 0.001），表明运动干预有效，随后唐氏综合征患者的姿势控制得到改善。根据PEDro量表，四项研究质量较低，两项研究质量较高。此外，应用GRADE标准，观察到证据的确定性为“低”。本综述纳入的6项研究中运动的平均效应量为0.67，表明效应量较小。
运动干预可改善唐氏综合征患者的姿势控制。此外，由于样本量小且纳入的研究数量少，为处理研究中的偏倚风险，建议开展一项方法更严谨、样本量更大的新随机对照试验，比较运动与其他策略或不同类型的运动。
