Physical Activity, Exercise Interventions, and Health Outcomes in Children and Adolescents

Physical inactivity among children and adolescents has reached alarming levels worldwide. According to the World Health Organization, more than 80% of school-going adolescents fail to meet the recommended 60 minutes of daily moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA)—a figure that has barely improved over the past decade. This deficit coincides with a steady decline in cardiorespiratory fitness and a marked rise in pediatric obesity, cardiometabolic dysfunction, and mental health disorders such as anxiety and depression. Because activity behaviors track from childhood into adulthood, this developmental window is a critical opportunity for sustainable intervention.

Despite well-documented benefits, key gaps persist. The evidence base is highly heterogeneous in exercise type (aerobic, resistance, or combined), intensity, frequency, and duration, and the dose-response relationships with specific outcomes—executive function, bone health, immune regulation, and social well-being—remain poorly quantified. Physiological responses differ substantially across pubertal stages (pre-pubertal Tanner I–II vs. peri-pubertal Tanner III–V), yet activity guidelines remain largely generic. Most published interventions also have follow-up periods shorter than six months, so the durability of gains (e.g., bone mineral density) and long-term adherence are rarely captured. Finally, evidence on safe, effective prescription for clinical subpopulations—children with asthma, type 1 diabetes, ADHD, or autism spectrum disorder (ASD)—is scarce, even though these groups face distinct physiological and behavioral challenges. Together, these gaps point to a pressing need to move from generic guidelines toward precise, developmentally appropriate, and condition-specific strategies.

Goal

This Research Topic aims to generate actionable evidence that advances exercise prescription for children and adolescents beyond one-size-fits-all recommendations. It pursues three interconnected objectives:

• Quantify dose-response relationships between specific exercise modalities (aerobic, resistance, and high-intensity interval training) and multi-dimensional outcomes, including cardiometabolic biomarkers, skeletal maturation, cognition, and psychosocial well-being.
• Establish developmentally tailored frameworks—using the FITT-VP principle (Frequency, Intensity, Time, Type, Volume, Progression)—stratified by pubertal stage, for both typically developing children and those with chronic or neurodevelopmental conditions.
• Evaluate real-world implementation, comparing the effectiveness of school-based integrated programs, family-community partnerships, and technology-enabled digital platforms in sustaining long-term adherence.

Ultimately, the collection seeks to accelerate the translation of exercise science into inclusive clinical guidelines and public health and educational policies that foster lifelong active lifestyles.

Scope and Information for Authors

We welcome high-quality Original Research, Systematic Reviews, Meta-analyses, and Brief Reports. Priority will be given to studies using rigorous experimental designs, innovative measurement tools (e.g., wearable accelerometers), and robust statistical approaches. Themes include, but are not limited to:

• Dose-response effects of different exercise modalities (aerobic, resistance, HIIT) on cardiometabolic biomarkers (e.g., lipid profile, glucose homeostasis, inflammatory cytokines), bone health, and mental health.
• Developmentally sensitive FITT-VP frameworks stratified by pubertal stage (Tanner I–II vs. III–V).
• Comparative effectiveness of school-based integrated programs versus family- and community-based models in sustaining long-term physical activity adherence.
• Exercise interventions for clinical subpopulations, including children with asthma, type 1 diabetes, ADHD, and ASD.
• Mechanistic studies of the biological (e.g., neurotrophic factors, bone-turnover markers, immune regulation) and psychological (e.g., self-efficacy, motivation) pathways linking physical activity to health.
• Innovative methodology, including wearable accelerometry, ecological momentary assessment (EMA), and machine-learning–based pattern recognition.
• Implementation and translational science that bridges exercise prescription to real-world educational, community, and healthcare settings.

By consolidating global evidence, this Research Topic aspires to inform future clinical guidelines and public health policy on promoting lifelong physical activity from an early age.