Targeting parents exclusively in the treatment of childhood obesity: long-term results.
OBJECTIVE
To report the long-term change in children's overweight following a family-based health-centered approach where only parents were targeted compared with a control intervention where only children were targeted.


METHODS
Fifty of the 60 children who participated in the original study were located 7 years later, and their weight and height were measured. At the point of the 7-year follow-up, the children were 14 to 19 years of age. Repeated measure ANOVA was used to test differences between the groups in percent overweight at different time-points.


RESULTS
Mean reduction in percent overweight was greater at all follow-up points in children of the parent-only group compared with those in the children-only group (p < 0.05). Seven years after the program terminated, mean reduction in children's overweight was 29% in the parent-only group vs. 20.2% in the children-only group (p < 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
Over the long term, treatment of childhood obesity with the parents as the exclusive agents of change was superior to the conventional approach.
School of Nutritional Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel. moriag@netvision.net.il
Moria
M
Golan
Scott
S
Crow
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001521:Behavior Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D002648:Child; D015362:Child Nutrition Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D016896:Treatment Outcome