A Study on the Effectiveness of Comprehensive Intervention Based on Specialized Physical Education Courses in the Prevention of Comorbidity Among Junior Middle School Students

Summary

Junior high school students are in a critical period of physical and mental development, currently facing two major health challenges: first, persistently high rates of myopia with a noticeable trend toward younger onset; second, the overlapping occurrence of common conditions such as overweight/obesity, spinal deformities, and psychological anxiety.Traditional physical education classes, characterized by limited content and insufficient targeting, struggle to address these issues. Multimorbidity of common diseases in children and adolescents refers to the coexistence of two or more common diseases or chronic health problems in the same individual.

Therefore, this study innovatively designed a specialized physical education curriculum integrating "exercise + health education," aiming to fill the gap in comprehensive prevention and control of common adolescent health conditions through traditional physical interventions.

This study systematically investigated the effects of a specialized physical education intervention program on myopia prevention and control, as well as the simultaneous prevention of multiple common health conditions (overweight/obesity, abnormal blood pressure, insufficient cardiorespiratory fitness, abnormal spinal curvature, anxiety symptoms, and depression symptoms) among junior high school students in China. The program was designed and implemented for students at a Chinese secondary school, ultimately aiming to provide a replicable school-based physical education intervention model for adolescent health promotion. The study strictly adhered to a randomized controlled design, employing multidimensional evaluation, long-term follow-up, and rigorous quality control to ensure scientific validity and reliability of the findings.

Conditions

• Multimorbidity
• Comorbidity
• Common Diseases in Children and Adolescents
• Myopia
• Anxiety Symptoms
• Depressive Symptoms
• Overweight , Obesity

Interventions

OTHER

The intervention group participated in specialized physical education courses.

Intervention Measures for This Study: During school hours, a portion of regular physical education classes will be replaced with specialized physical education courses jointly developed by the research team and school physical education teachers. These specialized courses aim to enhance the enjoyment of physical education, increase student participation, and consequently boost physical activity levels. The specialized physical education curriculum comprises five courses: darts, frisbee, flag football, handball, and orienteering. Students have one physical education class daily during their five-day school week. Routine physical education classes proceed as normal during school hours, ensuring both study groups complete one daily physical education class except under special circumstances. On weekdays, the intervention group replaces routine physical education classes with specialized physical education classes three days per week. These specialized classes are taught by dedicated physi

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Xiaoyan Wu

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

DOUBLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

11 Years

Max Age

14 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2025-11-15

Primary Completion

2026-09-30

Completion

2026-09-30