Table 1.

Summary of studies investigating the effects of regular moderate-to-vigorous intensity exercise in children with ADHD

Study	Study design	Participants	Type of exercise	Key outcome measures	Findings
Kang et al. 2011 [31]	RCT (exercise versus education for behavior control*)	n = 28	Twice a week during 6 consecutive weeks, moderate to vigorous intensity	Korean ADHD Rating Scale (K-ARS-PT), Digit Symbol and Trail-Making Test (TMT-B)	Greater improvement in attention symptoms, cognitive functioning and cooperativeness scores compared to control group.
		(28 male)
		Mean age 8.6 years
Chang et al. 2014 [32]	Controlled , non-randomized (exercise versus no exercise)	n = 27	Twice a week during 8 consecutive weeks, moderate intensity aquatic exercise	Basic Motor Ability Test Revised (BMAT), Go/NoGo Task	Greater improvements in accuracy associated with NoGo stimulus and coordination of motor skills compared to control group.
		(23 male)
		5-10 years
Verret et al. 2012 [33]	Controlled, non-randomized (exercise versus no exercise)	n = 21	3 times a week during 10 consecutive weeks, moderate to vigorous intensity	Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), Test of Everyday Attention for Children (Tea-Ch)	Greater improvements in behavior reports by parents and teachers, information processing and auditory sustained attention compared to control group.
		(19 male)
		7-12 years
Smith et al. 2013 [34]	Open study,	n = 14	8 weeks of daily moderate-to-vigorous intensity	Broad range of measures including subtests from Wechsler preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI-R), Wide Range Assessment of Memory and Learning (WRAML-2), Woodcock-Johnson III Test of Cognitive Abilities (WJ-III).	Largest Improvements in response inhibition / impulsiveness and behavior reports by parents, staff and teachers compared to pre-exercise levels.
	No control group	(6 male)
		5-8 years

*Additionally, methylphenidate treatment was newly established in both groups.