CompletedNCT01693926Updated Mar 25, 2020

Effect of Physical Activity an Stress in Children

An interventional study of Acute physical activity intervention and placebo in Obesity, Children and Physical Activity, sponsored by University of Lausanne Hospitals. Completed at 1 site in Switzerland. Open to participants aged 7 Years to 10 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2020-03-25.

Sponsored by University of Lausanne Hospitals · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase: Not applicable
Study type: Interventional
Enrollment: 50
Allocation: Randomized
Ages: 7 Years to 10 Years
Sex: All

Study summary

The objective of the study is to evaluate the impact of physical activity in obese and nonobese prepubertal children on:

biological stress responses during a psychosocial stress test
snacking and feeling of hunger in response to the same psychosocial stress test
the moderating factor of attachment on the biological stress responses and on snacking

Children will be investigated on one study day during 3.5 hours.

Read the detailed description

Hypotheses In this study, 3 primary hypotheses will be tested.

Moderate physical activity during 25 min in children decreases the cortisol levels in response to the Trier Social Stress Test TSST-C (for children).
Moderate physical activity during 25 min in children decreases the snacking (calorie consumption when corrected for expenditure and switch in quality of food intake) in response to the Trier Social Stress Test TSST-C (for children).
A secure attachment will be a moderating factor for the general increase in cortisol and the snacking in response to the psychosocial stress test (Trier Social Stress Test TSST-C).

Secondary objectives:

To test if the impact of physical activity on stress responses and snacking differs between obese and non-obese children
To test the impact of physical activity on the cardiovascular stress reactivity (blood pressure, heart rate) and the perceived stress (scale) in response to the Trier Social Stress Test TSST-C?
To test if the stress reactivity and its modulation by physical activity is different in anxious and in impulsives/labile children
To test if serious life events and parental worries and parental educational style influence the stress reactivity

Conditions studied

Obesity
Children
Physical Activity
Stress
Snacking

Browse trials for

Obesity 6,296

Keywords

Obesity
Children
Physical activity
Stress
Snacking

In context

Obesity

6,296 studies on the registry are indexed under Obesity; 1,692 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 50 is below the median of 78 across 4,878 interventional studies indexed under Obesity.

Browse Obesity studies →

Lead sponsor

University of Lausanne Hospitals is the lead sponsor of 118 studies on the registry; 9 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

Who can participate

Ages eligible: 7 Years to 10 Years
Sexes eligible: All
Accepts healthy volunteers: Yes

Inclusion criteria

7-10 year old children

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

Severe illness
Medications interfering with study

Study design

Phase: Not applicable
Primary purpose: Treatment
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel assignment
Masking: None (open label)
Enrollment: 50 participants (actual)

Study arms

Experimental
Acute physical activity intervention
25 min of moderate physical activity
Behavioral: Acute physical activity intervention
Placebo comparator
Placebo
25 min of reading (instead of physical activity)
Behavioral: placebo

Interventions

BehavioralAcute physical activity intervention
25 min of physical activity. The placebo arm will have 25 min of reading.
Behavioralplacebo

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

Change in salivary Cortisol and maximal levels of salivary cortisol in response to the TSST stress test over 2 hours
Time frame: 9 months
Snacking (Caloric intake, corrected for energy expenditure)
Measure of caloric intake and measure of choice of high-caloric vs low-caloric food snacking after the TSST stress test
Time frame: 9 months
Moderator effect of attachment (4 different attachment categories), i.e. children with a secure attachment will have lower rises in cortisol compared with children in the other 3 attachment categories
Cortisol levels after the TSST stress test will be lower in children with secure attachment compared to detached, disorganized or preoccupied children (i.e. the 3 other attachment categories).
Time frame: 9 months

Secondary outcomes

Moderator effect of obesity (WHO criteria)
Time frame: 9 months
Cardiovascular reactivity (changes and maximal levels of blood pressure, heart rate)
Time frame: 9 months
Perceived stress (stress scale from 1-7)
Time frame: 9 months
Moderator role of serious life events and parental worries
Time frame: 9 months

Study locations

1 site

Univeristy of Lausanne, SUPEA
Lausanne, VD 1011, Switzerland

References and documents

Publications

Horsch A, Wobmann M, Kriemler S, Munsch S, Borloz S, Balz A, Marques-Vidal P, Borghini A, Puder JJ. Impact of physical activity on energy balance, food intake and choice in normal weight and obese children in the setting of acute social stress: a randomized controlled trial. BMC Pediatr. 2015 Feb 19;15:12. doi: 10.1186/s12887-015-0326-7. PubMed 25879821 ↗

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026

No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Mar 25, 2020, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Registry details

Key details

Study ID: NCT01693926
Lead sponsor: University of Lausanne Hospitals
Responsible party: Jardena Puder (Medin adjoint, University of Lausanne Hospitals) — Principal investigator
First posted: Sep 26, 2012
Start date: Sep 2012
Primary completion: Jun 2013
Completion: Dec 2017
Last update: Mar 25, 2020

Oversight

Data monitoring committee: No

View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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This study is completed, as verified in Mar 2020. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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