Research on childhood obesity
Introduction
Childhood obesity is a global health concern and is associated with increased development of certain diseases among children and adolescents that can, at times, persist into adulthood. According to the center for disease control and prevention, childhood obesity is a severe concern in the United States, putting children and adolescents at risk for poor health. The rate of childhood obesity differs among different age groups of children and adolescents. Obesity prevalence was 13.9% among children of ages 2 to 5years, 18.4% among 6 to 11 years old, and 20.6% among 12 to 19 year-olds. Also, the problem was more persistent in some populations than others. Hispanic and non-Hispanic blacks had higher obesity than non-Hispanic whites. Besides, low-income communities were more obese compared to higher-income neighborhoods. The paper uses a randomized trial study design to find out what the childhood obesity prevention program works.
Purpose of the research study
The study purposed to find out, using randomized trial study design, combined with quasi-experimental studies and natural experiments, what childhood obesity prevention program works best-targeting children aged between 2 to 18 years. The prevention programs were conducted in selected high-income countries, and the implementation was to happen in several settings. The study’s attention is to provide a refined comprehensive review of findings to help guide future interventions and research on childhood obesity in children of high-income countries on the effects of interventions on adiposity outcomes.
Study population
The research study target was children aged between two years and eighteen years in high-income countries. However, it excluded studies only targeting overweight or obese children and those with medical conditions. One hundred and thirty-nine intervention studies, out of which one hundred and fifteen were primary school-based, were identified for the study. Besides, the study included six-home based interventions, three primary care-based interventions, five child care-based interventions, and ten community-based interventions.
Length of trial
The time of following up with the participants was one year from the time of recording baseline measures. Putting into consideration the school year length, the study trial time was set at six or more months for school-based interventions.
Data collection methods
The collection of data for the study was two-phased. The first phase involved a reviewer who conducted title, abstract, and full reviews of articles to gauge their eligibility for inclusion. The second phase involved a second reviewer who confirmed the accuracy of the previous reviewer’s work. After selecting the materials for the study, all relevant data about the bodyweight outcomes were abstracted.
Outcome measures
Primary childhood obesity outcome measures for the study were body mass index (BMI), BMI z-scores, BMI percentile, waist circumference, percent body fat, skinfold thickness, and prevalence of overweight or obesity. Data on the intervention methods grouped into three categories (diet only intervention, physical activity (PA) only, diet-physical activity combined interventions) were also extracted. A comparative analysis of this data would then be used in arriving at the response that works and could be implemented.
Results and conclusions
66% of the studies focused on evaluating school-based intervention effects on adiposity related outcome measures gave favorable results. However, only 36% of this information was statistically relevant to the study. Home-based studies provided zero statistically favorable results for the research study. A third (33%) primary care-based studies, two fifths (40%) child care-based studies, and five out of ten community-based studies reported significant and favorable effects on adiposity-related outcomes. Thus the conclusion from the studies was that multi-setting statistics produced more favorable and meaningful results compared to single setting studies. That is 44% against 35%.
Ethical issues associated with the study
In conducting a research study, ethical issues have to be considered before the start of the program. The randomized trial study conducted on obese children has ethical concerns. First, several obese children suffer from psychological problems, including anxiety, depression, and emotional and eating disorders. These problems create a moral dilemma for conducting experimental study design like this. Besides, reporting favorable results by participants in the program does not remove the risks of certain diseases linked with overweight and obesity. Thus it is ethical to put more emphasis on the well-being of the obese child rather than losing some weight or reducing BMI z-score.