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Background-Conducting longitudinal research studies with low-income and/or minority participants present a unique set of challenges and opportunities.Purpose-To outline the specific strategies employed to successfully recruit and retain participants in a longitudinal study of nutritional anticipatory guidance during early childhood, conducted with a low-income, ethnically diverse, urban population of mothers. Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. reporting, emphasis on participant convenience, incentives, frequent contact with participants, expanded budget, clinical staff buy-in, a dedicated phone line, and the use of research project branding and logos. Methods-We NIH Public AccessResults-Barriers to enrollment were not encountered in this project, despite recruiting from a low-income population with a large proportion of African-American families. Process evaluation with clinic staff demonstrated the perception of the MOMS staff was very positive Participant retention rate was 75% and 64% at 6 months and 12 months post-recruitment, respectively. We attribute retention success largely to a coordinated effort between the research team and the infrastructure support at the clinical sites, as well as project branding and a dedicated phone line.Conclusions-Successful participant recruitment and retention approaches need to be specific and consistent with clinical staff buy in throughout the project.

Epidemiological studies first demonstrated the association between obesity and asthma and they have begun to provide additional evidence to support causality: a doseeffect relationship, consistency across studies (especially among women) and the correct temporal order (ie, obesity before asthma). To date, relatively few studies have addressed reversibility, an important but less frequently demonstrated epidemiological criterion of causality. Reversibility suggests that if excessive weight is a risk factor for asthma, then reducing body weight should decrease the prevalence of asthma, or at least decrease asthma related symptoms or health care utilisation. We performed a systematic review on weight loss and asthma, based on searches

Childhood obesity is a serious and urgent public health problem. In the last 10 years, there has been a concerted effort in the USA and globally to develop and implement educational, medical and public health interventions designed to attenuate its growth. The success of these efforts was probably responsible for the plateau in the prevalence rate of childhood obesity noted in the last two years. While the attenuation of the overall prevalence of childhood obesity is promising, data from the same cohort reveal a concerning upward trend in the number of children with severe obesity. The consequences of severe childhood obesity can be devastating. When compared to their moderately obese peers, children with severe obesity are at greater risk for adult obesity, early atherosclerosis, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, fatty liver disease and premature death. The determinants for severe obesity include the same lifestyle, environmental, familial and societal risk factors reported for overweight or obesity. While all these risk factors must be screened for, genetic influences are distinct considerations that may have greater bearing especially with early-onset obesity. Treatments for severe childhood obesity include lifestyle intervention, specialised low-calorie diets and bariatric surgery. Outcomes of these treatments vary, with bariatric surgery clearly the most successful of the three for both short-term and long-term weight loss. Severe obesity in children and adolescents remains a challenging health condition. The enormous medical, emotional and financial burden these children and their families endure signals an urgent need to further investigate and standardise treatment modalities and improve outcomes.

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