title: Impact of a park-based afterschool program replicated over five years on modifiable cardiovascular disease risk factors.
abstract: Major challenges to the current childhood obesity epidemic include availability of prevention and/or treatment programs that are affordable and acc5essible. We evaluated the change in several modifiable, obesity-related cardiovascular disease risk factors after participation in Fit2Play™, a structured afterschool program housed in a large urban county parks system. Children ages 6-14 who participated in Fit2Play™ in one of 34 parks for one school year during a five-year period (2010-2015) had height, weight, 4-site skinfold thicknesses, systolic/diastolic blood pressure (SBP/DBP), fitness tests, and a health/wellness behavior/knowledge test collected at the beginning and end of the school year. Comparison of pre/post outcome measures were assessed via general linear mixed models for normal weight, overweight, and obese participants and both aggregate and cohort/year-specific results were generated. Aggregate (N=1546, 51% Hispanic, 44% NHB) results showed after one year of participation (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2016) both the obese and overweight groups significantly decreased their mean body mass index (BMI) percentile (98th to 95th percentile, p<0.001; 91st percentile to 89th percentile, p<0.001, respectively); (Ogden et al. 2015) the normal weight group maintained a healthy BMI percentile (54.6th); (Ogden et al., 2014) mean SBP and DBP significantly decreased (3.6 percentile and 6 percentile points, respectively, p<0.001 for both). Mean number of sit-ups, push-ups, 400meter run time, and nutrition knowledge scores improved in all participants (p<0.001 for all). These findings suggest that parks-based afterschool health/wellness programs can be a low-cost, high value tool in both preventing and treating the current childhood obesity epidemic and among high-risk groups in particular.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA; Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA. Electronic address: smessiah@med.miami.edu.
authors.forename: Sarah E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Messiah
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA.
authors.forename: Denise
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vidot
authors.affiliation: Miami Dade County Department of Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces, Miami, FL, USA.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hansen
authors.affiliation: Miami Dade County Department of Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces, Miami, FL, USA.
authors.forename: Jack
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kardys
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sunil Matthew
authors.affiliation: Miami Dade County Department of Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces, Miami, FL, USA.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nardi
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA.
authors.forename: Kristopher L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Arheart
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D044383:Black People; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000208:ethnology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000639:trends*; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D000068316:Parks, Recreational / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012307:Risk Factors
keywords: Childhood; Community-based; Ethnicity; Obesity; Park; Prevention; Replication