Topic category: Prevention

Abstract

screening—who profits? C Graf, B Koch, B Bjarnason-Wehrens, W Tokarski, S Dordel, HG Predel German Sport University, Germany Background Obesity in childhood is on the increase. Therefore countermeasures are necessary, but till now no valid method is available. Step Two is a schooland family-based intervention consisting of extra lessons, healthy nutrition and physical education for overweight/obese children in primary schools. This paper provides changes in anthropometric, cardiovascular and obesity parameters between intervention children (IG), nonparticipants (NP) in intervention, and controls (CG). Methods In 1678 children anthropometric data were recorded; BMI and BMI–SDS were calculated. Blood pressure was measured after 5 min at rest. 121 overweight/obese children at 3 intervention schools were invited to take part in the intervention. 40 of them completed the program from November 2003 till July 2004 (intervention group), 74 were invited, but did not take part (‘‘nonparticipants’’); the remaining 8 children were not considered for various reasons. 155 overweight/obese children from 4 other schools served as controls. Results Afterwards the IG shows a lower increase of the BMI ( + 0.3 ± 1.3 versus + 0.7 ± 1.2 kg/m) and an approximately three times higher diminution of the BMI–SDS in comparison with the CG ( – 0.16 ± 0.3 versus – 0.05 ± 0.3). Systolic blood pressure could significantly be lowered by 9.4 ± 20.0 mmHg in the IG, but increased in the CG around 0.4 ± 16.8 mmHg. In the group of NP, the increase of the BMI ( + 0.5 ± 1.3 kg/m) was less, however the reduction of the BMI– SDS ( – 0.10 ± 0.31) and systolic blood pressure ( – 5.7 ± 15.7 mmHg) was higher than in the CG. It also appeared that overweight but not obese children benefited from a screening examination alone. Conclusion Preventive measures are necessary and effective for overweight and obese primary school children. The screening itself seems also to have a small positive effect, especially for overweight children. Sustainability of the observed improvements over a longer period remains to be confirmed.