Enhancing Children's Cognitive and Brain Health Through Physical Activity Training (FITKids2) (FITKids2)

Enhancing Children's Cognitive and Brain Health Through Physical Activity Training

The objective of this study is to use a randomized controlled design to determine whether cardiorespiratory fitness training improves neurocognitive function and academic performance during preadolescent development.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Cognitive Ability, General; Achievement
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Physical Activity; Behavioral: Physical Activity

Detailed Description

The long term objective of this project is to develop an understanding of lifestyle factors that influence the cognitive and brain health of children while also reducing the sedentary nature of today's youth. Previous research has found that physical activity interventions can enhance both a variety of aspects of cognition and brain structure and function of children, older adults, and individuals with neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis. More specifically, in previous research with children the researchers have found that higher fit children possess larger hippocampi which in turn are related to better relational memory than their lower fit counterparts. The researchers have also observed that higher fit children exhibit more efficient executive control as indicated by performance measures and event-related brain potentials. While intriguing, these cross-sectional data do not enable us to establish causality between physical activity and cognition. In the current study the researchers substantially extend this previous research by examining the influence of a 9 month randomized controlled afterschool physical activity program on cognition and brain health. Cognition will be assessed with a battery of tasks and standardized achievement tests both before and after the 9 month intervention in the activity group and a wait list control (who will receive the intervention the following year). Children will also participate in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sessions both before and after the intervention (and at comparable times for the wait list control). In these sessions the researchers will measure both structural aspects of the brain including regional volumes of gray matter and the integrity of the white matter tracts (through diffusion tensor imaging) and functional aspects of brain function using fMRI activity recorded as the children perform a series of executive control and memory tasks. The researchers anticipate, based on our cross-sectional studies with children and our previous longitudinal studies with older adults, that the children in the physical activity program will show both larger regional brain volumes, particularly in brain regions that subserve executive control and relational memory, and more efficient brain function, as indexed by task-related and resting state fMRI. Furthermore, the researchers anticipate that these changes will be accompanied by improvements in memory and executive control processes. Given recent trends identifying decreased levels of physical activity and health status in preadolescents, the understanding of the potential benefits of physical activity on cognition is of great interest. It is imperative that factors positively influencing cognitive function of children be examined to maximize health and effective functioning of individuals as they progress through the lifespan.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 300
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Illinois
    • Urbana, Illinois, United States, 61801
      • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
    • Urbana, Illinois, United States, 61801
      • Beckman Institute - Biomedical Imaging Center
    • Urbana, Illinois, United States, 61801
      • Campus Recreation Center East
    • Urbana, Illinois, United States, 61801
      • Department of Kinesiology and Community Health

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 8 years to 9 years (Child)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Parental/guardian consent
• 8 - 9 years old
• Capable of performing exercise
• Absence of school-identified learning disability
• IQ >= 85
• Tanner Scales score <= 2
• ADHD Rating Scales score >= 85%
• Right hand dominant
• Absence of metal implants
• Not claustrophobic

Exclusion Criteria:

• Non-consent of guardian
• Above or below 8 - 9 years old
• Any physical disability that prohibits exercise
• School-identified learning disability
• IQ < 85
• Tanner Scales score > 2
• ADHD Rating Scale score < 85%
• Left hand dominant
• Presence of metal implants
• Claustrophobic

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Basic Science
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Treatment Group; Participants randomized to the physical activity-based afterschool intervention	Behavioral: Physical Activity; 9-month afterschool program designed to increase physical activity and aerobic fitness.; Behavioral: Physical Activity; Participants in this group partake in their regular afterschool activities, without intervention from the study staff.
Placebo Comparator: Wait List Group; Participants in this group partake in their regular afterschool activities, without intervention from the study staff.	Behavioral: Physical Activity; 9-month afterschool program designed to increase physical activity and aerobic fitness.; Behavioral: Physical Activity; Participants in this group partake in their regular afterschool activities, without intervention from the study staff.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
NeuroCognitive Assessment	Normed computerized test battery for cognitive testing	Change from baseline, 36 - 40 weeks
Structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging	Measures of brain structure	Change from baseline, 36 - 40 weeks
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging	Measures of brain function	Change from baseline, 36 - 40 weeks
Academic Achievement	Scholastic achievement tests of reading comprehension and arithmetic	Change from baseline, 36 - 40 weeks
Eye Tracking	Measures of visual gaze	Change from baseline, 36 - 40 weeks
Task Performance	Measures of responses speed and accuracy	Change from baseline, 36 - 40 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Event-related Brain Potentials	Measures of the neuroelectric system that occur in response to, or in preparation for, a discrete event	Change from baseline, 36 - 40 weeks
DXA Body Mass Assessment	Measures of bone density, total body composition, and fat content	Change from baseline, 36 - 40 weeks
Diet and Brain Function	Measure of correlation between diet and brain function	Change from baseline, 36-40 weeks
Adiposity	Measure of change in adiposity	Change from baseline, 36 - 40 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• Collaborators: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Arthur F Kramer, PhD, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Principal Investigator: Charles Hillman, PhD, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Liu R, Hannon BA, Robinson KN, Raine LB, Hammond BR, Renzi-Hammond LM, Cohen NJ, Kramer AF, Hillman CH, Teran-Garcia M, Khan NA. Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms in CD36 Are Associated with Macular Pigment among Children. J Nutr. 2021 Sep 4;151(9):2533-2540. doi: 10.1093/jn/nxab153.
• Chojnacki MR, Holscher HD, Balbinot AR, Raine LB, Biggan JR, Walk AM, Kramer AF, Cohen NJ, Hillman CH, Khan NA. Relations between mode of birth delivery and timing of developmental milestones and adiposity in preadolescence: A retrospective study. Early Hum Dev. 2019 Feb;129:52-59. doi: 10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2018.12.021. Epub 2019 Jan 12.
• Chojnacki MR, Raine LB, Drollette ES, Scudder MR, Kramer AF, Hillman CH, Khan NA. The Negative Influence of Adiposity Extends to Intraindividual Variability in Cognitive Control Among Preadolescent Children. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2018 Feb;26(2):405-411. doi: 10.1002/oby.22053. Epub 2017 Dec 27.
• Raine LB, Khan NA, Drollette ES, Pontifex MB, Kramer AF, Hillman CH. Obesity, Visceral Adipose Tissue, and Cognitive Function in Childhood. J Pediatr. 2017 Aug;187:134-140.e3. doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2017.05.023. Epub 2017 Jun 13.
• Barnett SM, Khan NA, Walk AM, Raine LB, Moulton C, Cohen NJ, Kramer AF, Hammond BR Jr, Renzi-Hammond L, Hillman CH. Macular pigment optical density is positively associated with academic performance among preadolescent children. Nutr Neurosci. 2018 Nov;21(9):632-640. doi: 10.1080/1028415X.2017.1329976. Epub 2017 May 23.
• Hassevoort KM, Khazoum SE, Walker JA, Barnett SM, Raine LB, Hammond BR, Renzi-Hammond LM, Kramer AF, Khan NA, Hillman CH, Cohen NJ. Macular Carotenoids, Aerobic Fitness, and Central Adiposity Are Associated Differentially with Hippocampal-Dependent Relational Memory in Preadolescent Children. J Pediatr. 2017 Apr;183:108-114.e1. doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2017.01.016. Epub 2017 Feb 8.
• Baym CL, Khan NA, Monti JM, Raine LB, Drollette ES, Moore RD, Scudder MR, Kramer AF, Hillman CH, Cohen NJ. Dietary lipids are differentially associated with hippocampal-dependent relational memory in prepubescent children. Am J Clin Nutr. 2014 May;99(5):1026-32. doi: 10.3945/ajcn.113.079624. Epub 2014 Feb 12.

Helpful Links

• FITKids Website

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: April 1, 2012
• Primary Completion (Actual): May 1, 2017
• Study Completion (Actual): May 1, 2017

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: June 12, 2012
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 12, 2012
• First Posted (Estimate): June 14, 2012

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): July 14, 2017
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 11, 2017
• Last Verified: July 1, 2017

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: physical activity; cognition; fitness; brain health; scholastic achievement; preadolescent children
• Other Study ID Numbers: HD069381; R01HD069381-01A1 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)