RT Journal Article
T1 An umbrella review of randomized control trials on the effects of physical exercise on cognition
A1 Ciria, Luis
A1 Román-Caballero, Rafael
A1 Vadillo, Miguel A
A1 Holgado, Darias
A1 Luque-Casado, Antonio
A1 Perakakis, Pantelis
A1 Sanabria, Daniel
AB Extensive research links regular physical exercise to an overall enhancement of cognitive function across the lifespan. Here we assess the causal evidence supporting this relationship in the healthy population, using an umbrella review of meta-analyses limited to randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Despite most of the 24 reviewed meta-analyses reporting a positive overall effect, our assessment reveals evidence of low statistical power in the primary RCTs, selective inclusion of studies, publication bias and large variation in combinations of pre-processing and analytic decisions. In addition, our meta-analysis of all the primary RCTs included in the revised meta-analyses shows small exercise-related benefits (d = 0.22, 95% confidence interval 0.16 to 0.28) that became substantially smaller after accounting for key moderators (that is, active control and baseline differences; d = 0.13, 95% confidence interval 0.07 to 0.20), and negligible after correcting for publication bias (d = 0.05, 95% confidence interval −0.09 to 0.14). These findings suggest caution in claims and recommendations linking regular physical exercise to cognitive benefits in the healthy human population until more reliable causal evidence accumulates.
PB Springer Nature
SN 2397-3374
YR 2023
FD 2023
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/100023
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/100023
LA eng
NO Ciria, L.F., Román-Caballero, R., Vadillo, M.A. et al. An umbrella review of randomized control trials on the effects of physical exercise on cognition. Nat Hum Behav 7, 928–941 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-023-01554-4
NO Junta de Andalucía
NO Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte (España)
NO Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (España)
DS Docta Complutense
RD 6 abr 2025