title: Promoting Weight Maintenance among Overweight and Obese Hispanic Children in a Rural Practice.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  US Hispanic children experience a disproportionate burden of overweight and obesity. Comprehensive high-intensity behavioral programs have demonstrated effectiveness in improving weight status among obese children. However, there remains a need to develop more efficient interventions that are feasible in primary care and demonstrate effectiveness in Hispanic children.
  
  
  METHODS
  The pilot study used a two-group randomized design. Eligible overweight (BMI between the 85th and 94th percentile for age and gender) or obese (BMI ≥95th percentile) Hispanic children and their parents (N=118 child/parent dyads) were recruited from a rural pediatric clinic and randomized to: standard care (SC; n=61 dyads) or behavioral intervention (INT; n=57 dyads). The primary outcomes-weight, waist circumference, and zBMI-were measured at baseline, 2, 6, and 18 weeks. Multivariate logistic regression was used to examine the effect of INT on the likelihood of weight maintenance adjusting for potential confounding variables.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Significantly fewer INT children (68.5%) experienced weight gain, compared to SC children (89.7%; p=0.009). The same pattern was observed for waist circumference, where fewer INT children (44%) experienced an increase in waist circumference, compared to SC children (68.6%; p=0.02). Although a trend of improvement in favor of the INT was observed for zBMI, it was not significant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study provides preliminary evidence for the feasibility of a primary-care-based approach to promoting weight maintenance among a high-risk population.
authors.affiliation: 1 Institute for Health Promotion Research, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio , San Antonio, TX.
authors.forename: Deborah
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Parra-Medina
authors.affiliation: 1 Institute for Health Promotion Research, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio , San Antonio, TX.
authors.forename: Cynthia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mojica
authors.affiliation: 2 Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio , San Antonio, TX.
authors.forename: Yuanyuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: 2 Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio , San Antonio, TX.
authors.forename: Yongjian
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ouyang
authors.affiliation: 3 Central Texas Health Research , New Braunfels, TX.
authors.forename: Awilda I
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: Ramos
authors.affiliation: 4 New Braunfels Pediatrics Associates , New Braunfels, TX.
authors.forename: Ismaela
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Gomez
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000465:Algorithms; D001521:Behavior Therapy; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D037001:Directive Counseling; D055317:Evidence-Based Practice; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010290:Parents / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D063766:Pediatric Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011322:Primary Prevention / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012424:Rural Population; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013781:Texas / Q000453:epidemiology; D055105:Waist Circumference