The effects of exercise interventions on brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels in children and adolescents:a meta-analysis

作     者：Xueyun Shao Longfei He Yangyang Liu 

作者机构：Physical Education SchoolShenzhen UniversityShenzhenGuangdong ProvinceChina Shenzhen Institute of NeuroscienceShenzhenGuangdong ProvinceChina 

出 版 物：《Neural Regeneration Research》 (中国神经再生研究（英文版）)

年 卷 期：2025年第20卷第5期

页      面：1513-1520页

核心收录：

学科分类：1004[医学-公共卫生与预防医学(可授医学、理学学位)] 100404[医学-儿少卫生与妇幼保健学] 10[医学] 

基　　金：supported by the STI 2030-Major Projects No. 2021ZD0200500 (to XS) 

主　　题：adolescents brain-derived neurotrophic factor children exercise meta-analysis randomized controlled trials 

摘      要：Brain-derived neurotrophic factor is a crucial neurotrophic factor that plays a significant role in brain health. Although the vast majority of meta-analyses have confirmed that exercise interventions can increase brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels in children and adolescents, the effects of specific types of exercise on brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels are still controversial. To address this issue, we used meta-analytic methods to quantitatively evaluate, analyze, and integrate relevant studies. Our goals were to formulate general conclusions regarding the use of exercise interventions, explore the physiological mechanisms by which exercise improves brain health and cognitive ability in children and adolescents, and provide a reliable foundation for follow-up research. We used the Pub Med, Web of Science, Science Direct, Springer, Wiley Online Library, Weipu, Wanfang, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure databases to search for randomized controlled trials examining the influences of exercise interventions on brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels in children and adolescents. The extracted data were analyzed using Review Manager 5.3. According to the inclusion criteria, we assessed randomized controlled trials in which the samples were mainly children and adolescents, and the outcome indicators were measured before and after the intervention. We excluded animal experiments, studies that lacked a control group, and those that did not report quantitative results. The mean difference(MD;before versus after intervention) was used to evaluate the effect of exercise on brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels in children and adolescents. Overall, 531 participants(60 children and 471 adolescents, 10.9–16.1 years) were included from 13 randomized controlled trials. Heterogeneity was evaluated using the Q statistic and I^(2) test provided by Review Manager software. The meta-analysis showed that there was no heterogeneity among the studies(P = 0.67,