Table 1 Summary of study characteristics in 107 studies of nutrition, physical activity and obesity interventions in young adults, by gender-targeted versus gender-neutral studies
Total (n = 107) | Gender-targeted (n = 30) | Gender-neutral (n = 77) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
n | % | n | % | n | % | |
Publication year n (%) a | ||||||
Before 1999 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 |
1999–2002 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 10 | 1 | 1 |
2003–2007 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 10 | 3 | 4 |
2008–2012 | 22 | 21 | 4 | 13 | 18 | 23 |
2013–December 2019 | 73 | 68 | 18 | 60 | 55 | 71 |
Country n (%) | ||||||
United States | 58 | 54 | 15 | 50 | 43 | 56 |
Australia | 11 | 10 | 3 | 10 | 8 | 10 |
Canada | 8 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 6 | 8 |
UK | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 7 |
Thailand | 3 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 3 |
Finland | 3 | 3 | 3 | 11 | 0 | 0 |
New Zealand | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
Italy | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
Other | 14 | 13 | 5 | 17 | 9 | 12 |
Number of participants | ||||||
Total | 29,566 | 10,400 | 35 | 19,166 | 65 | |
Mean | 276.3 | 346.7 | 248.9 | |||
Median | 124 | 81 | 150 | |||
Range | 20–3336 | 32–3336 | 20–2024 | |||
Sex n (%) a | ||||||
Female | 17,294 | 60 | 5095 | 49 | 12,199 | 65 |
Male | 11,750 | 40 | 5302 | 51 | 6448 | 35 |
Age | ||||||
Mean years (SD) | 21.1 | 2.9 | 21.1 | 3.6 | 21.1 | 2.7 |
17- ≤25 years | 59 | 55 | 15 | 50 | 44 | 57 |
17- ≤30 years | 23 | 21 | 7 | 23 | 16 | 21 |
17- ≤35 years | 24 | 22 | 8 | 27 | 16 | 21 |
Not reported | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Ethnicity n (%) | ||||||
Predominantly white | 62 | 58 | 13 | 43 | 49 | 64 |
Predominantly non-white | 7 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 8 |
Not reported | 38 | 36 | 16 | 53 | 22 | 29 |
Recruitment setting n (%) a | ||||||
College/University | 84 | 79 | 19 | 63 | 65 | 84 |
Community | 10 | 9 | 2 | 7 | 8 | 10 |
Health service | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 |
Workplace | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
Military | 4 | 4 | 4 | 13 | 0 | 0 |
College/University with other setting | 5 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 3 | 4 |
Not reported | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Focus of primary outcome/s n (%) | ||||||
Nutrition | 29 | 27 | 6 | 20 | 23 | 30 |
Physical Activity | 28 | 26 | 7 | 23 | 21 | 27 |
Obesity | 36 | 34 | 14 | 47 | 22 | 29 |
Nutrition & Physical Activity | 6 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 6 |
Obesity, Nutrition & Physical Activity | 5 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Obesity & Physical Activity | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
Intervention focus n (%) a | ||||||
Nutrition | 48 | 28 | 7 | 17 | 41 | 31 |
Physical Activity | 50 | 29 | 13 | 31 | 37 | 28 |
Obesity | 11 | 6 | 7 | 17 | 4 | 3 |
Nutrition & Physical Activity | 10 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 7 |
Obesity, Nutrition & Physical Activity | 31 | 18 | 7 | 17 | 24 | 18 |
Obesity, Nutrition &/or Physical Activity + other | 24 | 14 | 7 | 17 | 17 | 13 |
Mode of intervention delivery n (%) | ||||||
Face-to-face only | 38 | 22 | 12 | 29 | 26 | 20 |
eHealth only | 61 | 35 | 8 | 19 | 53 | 40 |
Print materials only | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 |
Wearable device only | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
Face-to-face + print materials | 22 | 13 | 9 | 21 | 13 | 10 |
Face-to-face + eHealth | 21 | 12 | 6 | 14 | 15 | 11 |
Face-to-face + eHealth + wearable device | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
Face-to-face + eHealth + print materials | 8 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 5 |
Face-to-face + wearable device | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
eHealth + wearable device | 7 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 4 | 3 |
eHealth + print materials | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 |
Wearable device + print materials | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
Study arms a | ||||||
Total | 261 | 70 | 27 | 191 | 73 | |
Active | 173 | 42 | 24 | 131 | 76 | |
Intervention duration (weeks) a | ||||||
Mean | 15.5 | 15 | 15.7 | |||
Median | 8.0 | 10.0 | 8.0 | |||
Range | < 1–156 | < 1–130 | < 1–156 | |||
Retention rate | ||||||
Post-intervention (%) | 83% | 82% | 83% | |||
Range | 23–100% | 33–100% | 23–100% | |||
At longest follow-up point (%) | 74% | 69% | 76% | |||
Range | 8–100% | 8–100% | 11–98% | |||