BACKGROUND: Over the past decade, childhood obesity has been recognized as an increasing health problem worldwide. It is a predictor of obesity during adulthood, which is strongly linked to chronic lifestyle diseases. PURPOSE: This paper aims to evaluate the effectiveness of school-based programs in the prevention and management of childhood obesity. METHODS: A comprehensive literature search was undertaken for RCTs and clinical controlled trials on school-based interventions that addressed childhood obesity, published between 1995 and 2007. The papers included for the meta-analysis were those in which ORs or standardized mean differences and their 95% CIs were reported or could be calculated from available data. RESULTS: Meta-analysis showed that the odds of participants' being overweight and obese in the school-based intervention programs compared with the control arm were significantly protective in the short term (OR=0.74, 95% CI=0.60, 0.92). Interventions that were conducted for more than 1 year had a higher OR of decreasing the prevalence of obesity. However, intervention programs were not effective in decreasing BMI compared with control treatments, with a weighted mean difference of -0.62 (95% CI=-1.39, 0.14). CONCLUSIONS: This meta-analysis showed that there was convincing evidence that school-based interventions are effective, at least short-term, in reducing the prevalence of childhood obesity. Longer-running programs were more effective than shorter programs.
BACKGROUND: Over the past decade, childhood obesity has been recognized as an increasing health problem worldwide. It is a predictor of obesity during adulthood, which is strongly linked to chronic lifestyle diseases. PURPOSE: This paper aims to evaluate the effectiveness of school-based programs in the prevention and management of childhood obesity. METHODS: A comprehensive literature search was undertaken for RCTs and clinical controlled trials on school-based interventions that addressed childhood obesity, published between 1995 and 2007. The papers included for the meta-analysis were those in which ORs or standardized mean differences and their 95% CIs were reported or could be calculated from available data. RESULTS: Meta-analysis showed that the odds of participants' being overweight and obese in the school-based intervention programs compared with the control arm were significantly protective in the short term (OR=0.74, 95% CI=0.60, 0.92). Interventions that were conducted for more than 1 year had a higher OR of decreasing the prevalence of obesity. However, intervention programs were not effective in decreasing BMI compared with control treatments, with a weighted mean difference of -0.62 (95% CI=-1.39, 0.14). CONCLUSIONS: This meta-analysis showed that there was convincing evidence that school-based interventions are effective, at least short-term, in reducing the prevalence of childhood obesity. Longer-running programs were more effective than shorter programs.
Authors: Jeannette R Ickovics; Kathleen O'Connor Duffany; Fatma M Shebl; Sue M Peters; Margaret A Read; Kathryn R Gilstad-Hayden; Marlene B Schwartz Journal: Am J Prev Med Date: 2019-01 Impact factor: 5.043
Authors: Krista Casazza; Andrew Brown; Arne Astrup; Fredrik Bertz; Charles Baum; Michelle Bohan Brown; John Dawson; Nefertiti Durant; Gareth Dutton; David A Fields; Kevin R Fontaine; Steven Heymsfield; David Levitsky; Tapan Mehta; Nir Menachemi; P K Newby; Russell Pate; Hollie Raynor; Barbara J Rolls; Bisakha Sen; Daniel L Smith; Diana Thomas; Brian Wansink; David B Allison Journal: Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr Date: 2015 Impact factor: 11.176