Table 1.

Criteria for evaluating the level of evidence in reviews examining relationships between sports participation and health.

Level of evidence for causal relationship between sports participation and health	Description of criteria
High	‘Good’ quality rating and including mostly randomized controlled studies
Moderate-to-high	‘Good’ quality rating and including mostly experimental studies
Moderate	‘Good’ quality rating and including mostly observational longitudinal studies
Low-to-moderate	‘Good’ or ‘fair’ quality rating and including mostly cross-sectional studies
Low	‘Poor’ quality rating