title: The costs and cost-effectiveness of a school-based comprehensive intervention study on childhood obesity in China.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The dramatic rise of overweight and obesity among Chinese children has greatly affected the social economic development. However, no information on the cost-effectiveness of interventions in China is available. The objective of this study is to evaluate the cost and the cost-effectiveness of a comprehensive intervention program for childhood obesity. We hypothesized the integrated intervention which combined nutrition education and physical activity (PA) is more cost-effective than the same intensity of single intervention.
  
  
  METHODS
  And Findings: A multi-center randomized controlled trial conducted in six large cities during 2009-2010. A total of 8301 primary school students were categorized into five groups and followed one academic year. Nutrition intervention, PA intervention and their shared common control group were located in Beijing. The combined intervention and its' control group were located in other 5 cities. In nutrition education group, 'nutrition and health classes' were given 6 times for the students, 2 times for the parents and 4 times for the teachers and health workers. "Happy 10" was carried out twice per day in PA group. The comprehensive intervention was a combination of nutrition and PA interventions. BMI and BAZ increment was 0.65 kg/m(2) (SE 0.09) and 0.01 (SE 0.11) in the combined intervention, respectively, significantly lower than that in its' control group (0.82 ± 0.09 for BMI, 0.10 ± 0.11 for BAZ). No significant difference were found neither in BMI nor in BAZ change between the PA intervention and its' control, which is the same case in the nutrition intervention. The single intervention has a relative lower intervention costs compared with the combined intervention. Labor costs in Guangzhou, Shanghai and Jinan was higher compared to other cities. The cost-effectiveness ratio was $120.3 for BMI and $249.3 for BAZ in combined intervention, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The school-based integrated obesity intervention program was cost-effectiveness for children in urban China.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Chinese Clinical Trial Registry ChiCTR-PRC-09000402 URL:http://www.chictr.org/cn/
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Nutrition and Food Safety, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Liping
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.forename: Haiquan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Ailing
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Joop
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: van Raaij
authors.forename: Wanda
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Bemelmans
authors.forename: Xiaoqi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Songming
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Du
authors.forename: Hongyun
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Guifa
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Hongwei
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Du
authors.forename: Guansheng
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ma
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002681:China; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006266:Health Education; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D063766:Pediatric Obesity / Q000191:economics* / Q000517:prevention & control; D012574:Schools / Q000191:economics*