Table 1 Eligibility criteria for the systematic review in PICO format
Item | Inclusion criteria | Exclusion criteria |
|---|---|---|
Population | Adolescents (10–19 years old) in primary and/or secondary school | Studies involving school-age children (10–19 years old) but interventions applied exclusively outside of a school setting |
Interventions, approaches or exposures of interests | Studies involving one or more of the following interventions: School-based nutrition and physical education, promoting healthy diets and/or physical activity, school food and nutrition policies, Access to safe school environment, school garden, and water, sanitation and hygiene interventions | Interventions targeted towards individuals with specific medical conditions such as treatments intended for underweight, overweight or obese adolescents; and educational interventions focusing only on educational outcomes (e.g., school or classroom performance, classroom environment,, and teacher performance) Studies of school feeding and nutrient supplementation interventions |
Comparison | Studies that compared the intervention with any relevant control group including comparisons with no intervention, regular nutrition education classes and/or physical education classes, or any other intervention in the school setting | Not applicable |
Outcomes | Primary outcomes: BMI z score and school attendance Secondary outcomes: a change in anthropometry (e.g., height and weight status, BMI, height-for-age z scores, weight-for-age z scores, weight-for-height z scores, skin-fold thickness measures, stunting, underweight, wasting, body mass index, overweight, obesity, waist-to-height ratio, and central obesity), knowledge of diet and nutrition, dietary intake (i.e. amount and frequency), dietary diversity, diet quality, school enrolment status, school completion, and cognitive, maths, and/or language skills | Not applicable |
Study design | Randomized controlled trials, non-randomized controlled trials including controlled before-after studies | Non-randomized trials including controlled before-after studies that did not account for baseline differences, observational studies including cohort, case–control, and cross-sectional designs, and editorial commentaries, opinions, and review articles |