Researchers assessed the effectiveness of childhood obesity prevention programs by reviewing all interventional studies that aimed to improve diet, physical activity, or both and that were conducted in schools, homes, primary care clinics, childcare settings, the community, or combinations of these settings in high-income countries.
- Researchers compared the effects of the interventions on weight-related outcomes (e.g., body mass index [BMI], waist circumference, percent body fat, skinfold thickness, prevalence of obesity and overweight); intermediate outcomes (e.g., diet, physical activity); and obesity-related clinical outcomes (e.g., blood pressure, blood lipids).
- Researchers included 131 articles describing 124 interventional studies. The majority of the interventions (104 studies) were school based, although many of them included components delivered in other settings. Most were conducted in the United States and in the past decade.
- Conclusions: The evidence is moderate about the effectiveness of school-based interventions for childhood obesity prevention. Physical activity interventions in a school-based setting with a family component or diet and physical activity interventions in a school-based setting with home and community components have the most evidence for effectiveness. More research is needed to test interventions in other settings, such as those testing policy, environmental, and consumer health informatics strategies.
- This extensive review and meta-analysis was carefully executed then reviewed by a panel of experts. Their conclusions support the SRTS program strategy of physical activity through active travel as a school based program with home and community components being part of one of the most effective prevention strategies for pediatric obesity.
Youfa Wang, M.D., Ph.D. Yang Wu, M.S., Renee F. Wilson, M.S. Sara Bleich, Ph.D., Larry Cheskin, M.D., Christine Weston, Ph.D., Nakiya Showell, M.D., M.P.H. Oluwakemi Fawole, M.D., M.P.H. Brandyn Lau, M.P.H., & Jodi Segal, M.D., M.P.H. (2013). Childhood Obesity Prevention Programs: Comparative Effectiveness Review and Meta-Analysis. In M. Johns Hopkins University Evidence-based Practice Center Baltimore (Ed.), (Comparative Effectiveness Review No. 115. (Prepared by the Johns Hopkins University Evidence-based Practice Center under Contract No. 290-2007-10061-I.) AHRQ Publication No. 13-EHC081-EF. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; June 2013.
