Avanços na Pesquisa Pediátrica
Acesso livre
ISSN: 2385-4529
ISSN: 2385-4529
Hasanain Faisal Ghazi, Zaleha Md. Isa, Mohd Rizal Abdul Manaf, Diana Binti Mahat, Norazman Mohd Rosli, Mohd Ihsani Mahmood, Maged Elnajeh
Background: The prevalence of childhood obesity is alarming and studies have shown that overweight and obese children carry more risk of developing a range of related health problems when they become older. The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the effectiveness of childhood obesity intervention programmes. Methods: Systematic review of published literature from 2008 to 2015. Articles were excluded if they were published before 2008, if they were not published in English; if they had incomplete statistical data; and if the participants did not belong to the age category of 6 to 12 years. All eligible articles were independently reviewed by two reviewers to assess study quality. Results: Ten studies met the inclusion criteria. Most were conducted in a health care setting (n = 5) or schoolbased setting (n = 4), including one in a rural area. Half of the articles were published in 2013 and all studies had an almost equal gender distribution. All studies sought reduction in anthropometric/ body composition as their main outcomes. Only three studies were rated as strong in quality while the others were moderate. Conclusions: Most of the interventional studies included in our review showed a significant improvement for obese children. Four out of 11 studies showed that physical activity and diet had a great impact on child obesity, while other studies showed that a hospital-care setting or school-based setting and parental involvement were more beneficial in treating obesity.