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Physical Exercise Training to Enhance Executive and Social Functions

NCT04896671 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 30

Last updated 2021-05-25

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Background and study aims: Executive functions (EF) and social functions are important for self-regulation, problem solving, and attaining future goals yet they are impaired in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Physical exercise (PE) is found to enhance these central cognitive and social impairments in ASD. While limited research has begun to target these impairments in clinical samples, the presence of sub-clinical traits of ASD (refer to as broad autism phenotype (BAP)) in the general population is more common than the 1% prevalence of ASD. Therefore, it is crucial to study these impairments in the sub-clinical individuals. This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of PE in enhancing the EF and social functions in the BAP adolescents. Method: Participants will be recruited from the local community and they should be between the age of 7-20 years without any psychiatric disorders. Expected results: PE is predicted to be effective in reducing the EF and social impairments in these adolescents. Implications: These findings can inform us with the knowledge to design a community-based PE training targeting EF problems in these adolescents with BAP in the local context. Ultimately, this training can be incorporated to the curriculum of the primary and secondary schools targeting BAP and associated impairments in adolescents.

Conditions

  • Broad Autism Phenotype

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Physical exercise (running on a treadmill)

Participants in the intervention group join a total of 12 treadmill running sessions, two sessions per week and each session for 30 minutes. In each session, every participant will be trained to run for 30 minutes on a treadmill. According to Exercise and Sports Science Australia (ESSA) exercise intensity guidelines, the intensity of running is suggested to be moderate and vigorous (alternating between the two) in this study.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

    collaborator OTHER

  • Griffith University

    collaborator OTHER

  • The University of Hong Kong

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Bess Yin-Hung Lam, PhD · The University of Hong Kong

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
7 Years
Max Age
20 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2019-04-01
Primary Completion
2020-09-30
Completion
2020-09-30

Countries

  • Hong Kong

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT04896671 on ClinicalTrials.gov