Table 1.

The summary of findings from the PROGRESS.

PROGRESS-Plus Factors	Summary of Reported Factors
Place of residence/setting	No. studies conducted in high-income countries (HICs): 533 No. studies conducted in upper-middle-income countries (UMICs): 70 No. studies conducted in lower-middle-income countries (LMICs): 13 40 studies had no country stated.
Race/ethnicity/culture/language	Almost half of the included studies specified details under this domain while reporting the baseline characteristics of the study population.
Occupation	This is one of the most under-reported categories in the studies probably since the study population were children and adolescents. Very few studies reported the occupation of the parents of the enrolled chidlren and adolescents.
Gender/sex	This category was reported in almost every study, although few did not provide the specific distribution of the sample by sex when participants from both sexes were included. Most studies were conducted with children and adolescents, but some also included only adolescents or only children.
Religion	This is also one of the under-reported categories in the studies. Very few studies reported on this domain.
Education	Since many studies were carried out in school settings, majority of such studies reported the level of education as preschool/elementary, primary or secondary.
Socioeconomic status	This factor was also poorly reported in the published data of the included studies. Moreover, various studies used different definitions of the socio-economic status. Majorly, the studies reported income, class, or the areas of residence (rural/urban/mixed) under this domain.
Social capital	Few studies directly reported any measurement of social capital. Indirectly, some studies reported that participants were recruited through schools, clinics, hospitals and sports/recreation centres, thus indicating that participants had at least one social connection or network.
Plus (other characteristics)	All studies reported on age, as this factor is essential for their analysis. Many reported the participants’ Body Mass Index (BMI) and other body measures e.g., height, weight, skinfold thickness. Studies including parents also reported parent education, occupation, income and marital status although very infrequently.
Recruitment methods	Most studies recruited their participants through similar strategies: schools, mailings, printed ads and flyers distributed in school campuses, community centres, clinics or hospitals, through advertisement on local radio and television. Most of the studies took place in HICs and in children and/or adolescents, hence the use of schools and community centres.