Review of telehealth interventions for childhood obesity in minority, low‐income or underserved populations: Opportunity for pharmacists

Abstract

There has been a steady increase in childhood obesity, comparable to that seen in adults, over the past decade with the incidence almost tripling. As seen in adults, there are trends in discrepancy among gender, ethnicity, race, and underserved populations in the incidence of childhood obesity. Effective interventions for childhood obesity need to be broad including both diet and exercise, but there is little evidence on the most effective approach. The use of telehealth interventions to treat childhood obesity in ethnic, low‐income, and underserved populations could be an effective platform. The pharmacist is a health care professional that is easily accessible to these populations and can assist with lifestyle modification counseling for weight loss. The purpose of this review is to summarize and evaluate the effectiveness of telehealth modalities on weight loss in overweight/obese children identified as minority, low‐income, or underserved populations. The review found there were many different forms of telehealth interventions utilized which may have influenced the success of evaluated outcomes. The majority of modalities did not improve BMI or BMI z‐score when not accompanied by a form of real‐time intervention. Studies, where telehealth was accompanied by motivational coaching, did show a significant decrease in BMI and/or BMI z‐score.