Which factors are associated with a successful outcome in a weight management programme for obese children?

Abstract

In families of obese children, motivated to seek help by attending a hospital-based weight control clinic, improvements in BMI are possible by a simple approach of education and continued support. Improvement is greatest in younger children with maximal benefit being seen in boys without a parental history of obesity. We believe this emphasizes the importance of identifying significant obesity in primary school aged children, who seem most likely to benefit from simple lifestyle modification, while many older children may require additional intervention programmes to improve BMI.

Presence of Obesity Related Comorbidities Associated with Lower Attrition Rate in Pediatric Weight Management Program

“…The poor take up rate of the structured exercise program at 26% was consistent with that found in other studies who encountered similar difficulties in engaging patients with obesity in exercise programs [26].…”

Evaluating the transferability of a hospital-based childhood obesity clinic to primary care: a randomised controlled trial

“…Nurse training involved: (1) shadowing the clinical team at the COCO outpatient clinic at BRHC on three occasions (each clinic ran for 4 hours), thus enabling the nurses to sit in with all members of the multidisciplinary team (doctor, specialist obesity nurse, dietitian, exercise specialist) on each of their three visits; (2) attendance at a one-off, secondary care workshop run by a specialist obesity nurse; (3) study packs given to nurses, to read in their own time, which included guidance on obesity management from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, 7 and the Department of Health care pathway for primary care management, 8 along with other literature and the background to the COCO clinic itself; 9,10 and (4) familiarisation with standard operating procedures for clinical practice written by COCO clinicians and research staff.…”

Three-year follow-up of 3-year-old to 5-year-old children after participation in a multidisciplinary or a usual-care obesity treatment program

“…19 The positive long-term results on BMI-z from our study further support the finding that multidisciplinary intervention programs in young children with overweight or obesity are more effective in decreasing weight, compared with intervention programs in overweight or obese adolescents. 20 Reducing childhood obesity is important as this may result in a decreased risk on the development of adult CVD. 7 This hypothesis is supported by a study showing the tracking of cardiovascular risk factors from childhood to adolescence in obese children.…”