Assessing the coverage, uptake and effectiveness of interventions for obesity in the early years
This project will assess the coverage, uptake and effectiveness of individual or community-based interventions and programmes for obesity in the early years: a systematic review.
25 January 2022
Background
In 2019 worldwide there were 38.2 million children under 5 years old living with overweight or obesity. In England, according to the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP 2020/21), the prevalence of overweight and obesity among reception-age children is nearly 28%.
Given that obesity tracks strongly through childhood, adolescence and into adulthood, the need to adopt a life-course approach in addressing the obesity problem is well acknowledged. The early years of child’s life (i.e. 0-5 years) represent an important entry point for preventative interventions.
Methodology
We will search nine databases and include studies from all countries and languages published the last 10 years (2011-2021). Only intervention studies or randomised controlled trials or studies that have a before and after implementation design will be included. Participants are children aged 0 to 5 years of any weight status (healthy weight, overweight or obese), interventions are any intervention or programme that had diet and/or physical activity component, and the outcomes are anthropometric changes (e.g. weight, BMI z score etc). The findings will be analysed separately: in the UK and elsewhere.
Timing
March 2022
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The NIHR Policy Research Unit in Healthy Weight is part of the NIHR and hosted by UCL.