SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Children and Health
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1686892
This article is part of the Research TopicAdvancing Motor Coordination Therapy for Children with Developmental DisordersView all 6 articles
Dose–Response Relationship of Physical Exercise Interventions for Balance Performance in Children and Adolescents with Intellectual Disabilities: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Provisionally accepted
- 1Harbin Sport University, Harbin, China
- 2Heilongjiang University of Technology, Jixi, China
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Objective: To systematically evaluate the impact of exercise interventions on balance performance in children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities and examine the dose–response relationship of key intervention parameters. Methods: A comprehensive search of PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Scopus, and the Cochrane Library identified eligible randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Standardized mean differences (SMDs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using a random-effects model. Subgroup analyses and nonlinear meta-regression were performed to explore potential effect modifiers and dose–response patterns. Results: A total of 23 eligible studies comprising 31 datasets and 1,179 participants were included. Pooled analysis showed significant improvement in balance performance [SMD = 0.69, 95% CI (0.48, 0.89), p < 0.001]. Dose–response modeling indicated maximal benefit at approximately 717 MET·min/week (Hedges' g = 0.76). Subgroup analyses revealed greater effects with a frequency of ≥3 sessions/week [SMD = 0.76, 95% CI (0.48, 1.03), p < 0.001], session duration >60 minutes [SMD = 0.82, 95% CI (0.35, 1.29), p = 0.001], and intervention period <8 weeks [SMD = 0.78, 95% CI (0.46, 1.10), p < 0.001]. Conclusion: Moderate-dose exercise (717 MET·min/week) can significantly improve the balance performance in children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities, with specific frequency, duration, and intervention period combinations yielding superior outcomes. These findings provide an evidence-based basis for precision health strategies. However, moderate heterogeneity highlights the need for confirmation through larger, multicenter, long-term trials.
Keywords: Exercise Intervention, Intellectual Disability, Children and adolescents, Balance performance, dose–response relationship, Meta-analysis
Received: 16 Aug 2025; Accepted: 05 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Gao, Li, Wang, Quan, Meng and Kang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jianxin Kang, Harbin Sport University, Harbin, China
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