Active Commute in Relation to Cognition and Academic Achievement in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Future Recommendations

Active commuting to school (ACS) is an important source of physical activity among children. Recent research has focused on ACS and its benefits on cognition and academic achievement (AA), factors important for success in school. This review aims to synthesize literature on the relationship between...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of environmental research and public health 2019-12, Vol.16 (24), p.5103
Main Authors: Phansikar, Madhura, Ashrafi, Sadia Anjum, Khan, Naiman A, Massey, William V, Mullen, Sean P
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic achievement
Academic Success
Adolescent
Adolescents
Bibliographic data bases
Brain research
Child
Child, Preschool
Children
Children & youth
Cognition
Cognition & reasoning
Cognitive ability
Cognitive development
Commuting
Disease control
Exercise
Guidelines
Humans
Mental health
Physical activity
Physical fitness
Review
Reviews
Schools
Students - statistics & numerical data
Studies
Systematic review
Teenagers
Transportation - statistics & numerical data
Walking
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Summary:Active commuting to school (ACS) is an important source of physical activity among children. Recent research has focused on ACS and its benefits on cognition and academic achievement (AA), factors important for success in school. This review aims to synthesize literature on the relationship between ACS and cognition or AA among children and adolescents. Peer-reviewed articles in PubMed, Web of Science, PsycINFO and Cochrane Library assessing ACS with cognition and/or AA among children, until February 2019, were selected. Twelve studies across nine countries (age range 4-18.5 years) were included. One study used accelerometers, whereas all others used self-report measures of ACS. A wide range of objective assessments of cognitive functioning and AA domains were used. Five among eight studies, and four among six found a positive relationship between ACS and cognitive or AA measure, respectively. Four studies found dose-response relationships, and some studies found sex differences. The quantitative analysis found that ACS was not significantly associated with mathematics score (odds ratio = 1.18; CI = 0.40, 3.48). Findings are discussed in terms of methodological issues, potential confounders, and the strength of the evidence. Future studies should conduct longitudinal studies and use objective measures of ACS to understand this relationship further.
ISSN:1660-4601
1661-7827
1660-4601
DOI:10.3390/ijerph16245103