Childhood Obesity Prevention Programs

AHRQ and NIH-funded Comprehensive Evaluation Conducted Worldwide

children playing in a field.

These programas conduct systematic reviews and meta-analysis to assess the effects of interventions that are directed at children and/or their families on childhood obesity and related conditions, and children's related knowledge, beliefs, and attitude.

Program Background

The Childhood Obesity Prevention Programs are primarily funded by the United States Department of Health and Human Services (USDHHS) and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), with additional funding support from the NIH.

As part of the programs, Youfa Wang, MS, MD, PhD, and his team of researchers have been conducting systematic reviews and meta-analysis to assess the effects of interventions on childhood obesity and related conditions that are directed at children (including school-based programs as well as those related to policies and the built environment) and/or their families and children's related knowledge, beliefs, and attitude on obesity.  The programs also assesses multiple outcomes including weight and adiposity related measures, blood pressure, blood lipids and behavioral outcomes. 

Multiple research data sources such as MEDLINE®, Embase®, PsycInfo®, CINAHL®, clinicaltrials.gov, and the Cochrane Library have been searched for studies published over the past three decades. The effectiveness of childhood obesity prevention programs are then assessed by reviewing all interventional studies that aimed to improve diet, physical activity, or both and that were conducted in schools, homes, primary care clinics, childcare settings, the community, or combinations of these settings in high-income countries. Researchers also reviewed consumer health informatics interventions and compared the effects of the interventions on weight-related outcomes (e.g., body mass index, waist circumference, percent body fat, skinfold thickness, prevalence of obesity and overweight); intermediate outcomes (e.g., diet, physical activity); and obesity-related clinical outcomes (e.g., blood pressure, blood lipids). Future studies will examine other research questions such as outcomes like blood insulin and glucose and whether the effects of interventions vary by population groups.

Currently, key results have been published in an 835-page AHRQ report and in several research papers in leading journals such as Circulation, Obesity Review and Pediatrics. At present, we are conducting further research involving additional literature search and analysis of the large amount of information collected and new information that will be collected in the future.

Program Focus

The goals of these programs are:

  • To help guide future research, interventions, and policies in the U.S. and other countries in fighting the growing global childhood obesity epidemic.