The effect of exercise intervention on daily life activities and social participation in individuals with Down syndrome: A systematic review.
Exercise helps people with Down syndrome move, think, and join in daily life, and newer numbers make the case stronger.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Costa et al. (2017) looked at 19 smaller studies about exercise for people with Down syndrome.
Together these studies included 525 participants.
The team wanted to know if moving more helps people do daily tasks and join social activities.
What they found
Most studies showed exercise helped with everyday skills and being with others.
The authors warn the proof is mixed; some studies were weak or small.
They could not run one big number crunch, so they wrote a story-style summary instead.
How this fits with other research
Titlestad et al. (2019) later did a full meta-analysis on the same topic.
That 2019 paper found large gains in limb strength and balance, giving firmer numbers than the 2017 story.
Hoyle et al. (2022) ran a 12-week community FitSkills program and saw small but real boosts in everyday executive function.
Sosnowski et al. (2022) tested basketball for six months and markedly improved body makeup and functional fitness.
Together these newer trials add muscle to the 2017 claim: exercise helps, and we now know it helps strength, fitness, and day-to-day thinking.
Why it matters
You can tell parents and caregivers that safe, steady exercise is worth the effort.
Pick programmes that run at least 12 weeks and mix skills like balance, strength, and games.
Track simple daily-living goals, not just fitness scores, to show families the real-life payoff.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Few systematic reviews have looked at the effect of exercise intervention on activities of daily living and social participation in individuals with Down syndrome (DS) across the lifespan. AIMS: To evaluate the research on the effectiveness of exercise intervention on daily life activities and participation in individuals with DS. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Studies are from six electronic databases (CINHAL, Cochrane, ERIC, PEDro, PubMed, and PsycINFO) from 1987 to 2016. Nineteen studies met inclusion criteria. American Academy for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine (AACPDM) levels of evidence and an Intervention Clinical Appraisal Form were used to independently assess study quality and outcome measures coded using the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF). OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: There were 525 participants, age range, 3-65.5 years. The quality of the studies ranges from AACPDM Level I-IV and Intervention Clinical Appraisal Form scores of 4 to 10. A meta analysis was not conducted due to heterogenity of studies. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Exercise intervention was supported for both daily life activities and participation. Rigorous research studies are needed across the lifespan using objective outcome measures for ICF levels.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2017 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2017.01.011