Opinion - (2021) Volume 0, Issue 0
Received: 05-Nov-2021 Published: 27-Nov-2021
The prevalence of childhood obesity is rapidly increasing worldwide, with long-term fatal consequences. Many studies have investigated factors contributing to increase BMI in children and adolescents. School, home and clinical solutions have been proposed as viable viable strategies, among which school interventions are believed to have significant impact on a large scale. However, it remains controversial whether school intervention, particularly schooling, has a significant effect on childhood obesity. This article aims to provide a holistic overview of the relationship between schooling and childhood obesity. It includes a variety of factors including health education, nutrition education, school lunches, physical education, teacher awareness, pedagogy, and school stress. Schooling in general is only part of, not the answer to, childhood obesity. Solving this complex puzzle requires additional effort from other stakeholders (parents, community, politicians, researchers, etc.) [1].
Clinical community collaboration is a promising strategy for the treatment of childhood obesity, but current research is limited. This study investigated the effect of a family-based treatment program established in a primary care clinic on weight maintenance and change in 1-year-old children [2].
Children (216 years old, BMI ≥ 85 percentile, 87.0% Hispanic) and their parents were recruited from the same pediatric clinic for the Healthy Hawks Primary Plus (HHP+) program. Children were referred by a physician and enrolled by the clinic's bilingual recruitment coordinator. Participants received 12 two-hour sessions per week focused on lifestyle and health behavior changes, followed by twice-monthly clinician visits for one year. The child's body mass index (BMI), as a ratio to the 95th percentile (%BMIp95), was measured as the primary outcome at baseline, after intervention, and at 1-year follow-up [2].
A multi-step randomized effects model assessed changes in children's body weight over time, taking into account family clustering. For further impact assessment, HHP+ maintenance and changes in child weight were compared only with a standard 12-week treatment program. HHP+ participants had significantly better retention at 1 year (73.9%, p ≤ 0.001) compared to the standard of care program (38.3%). In the HHP+ group, physician attendance was significantly correlated with 1-year maintenance (r = 0.69, p ≤ 0.001), and those who completed the HHP+ program had a significant decrease in %BMIp95 between baseline and 1-year follow-up (p = 0.03) [2,3]. Clinical community partnerships could be a promising strategy to improve child retention and weight loss in currently underrepresented populations in obesity treatment [2].
This study included 272 Hispanic families with 57-year-old children living in Greater Nashville, Tennessee, USA. Families are randomly assigned to an active weight gain prevention intervention or an alternative oral health intervention. Community activists - non-professionals implement their activities in the community center, mainly in Spanish. Active intervention is We Can! Parenting programs should be culturally aimed at Hispanic families and young children. This 12-month intervention focuses on experiential learning for parent models and children, promoting healthy eating habits, increased physical activity, and reduced sedentary lifestyles. Families attend 8 group sessions bi-monthly for 4 months and then receive information and/or support by phone or mail each month for 8 months. The main result is a change in the child's body mass index. Secondary outcomes are changes in children's waist circumference, dietary behavior, fruit and vegetable preferences, physical activity, and screen time [4].
Citation: Roberts MT (2021) Modest Improvements in Clinic-Based Child Obesity Treatment. J Child Obes. 2021, S5:5
Copyright: © 2021 Roberts MT. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
