Efficacy of interventions for prevention and correction of overweight and obesity in children 7–8 years old: a meta-analysis

The rapid increase in overweight and obesity in children is a global public health problem. Interventions to reduce the prevalence of obesity before puberty are considered to be the most effective, but the results of trials are not consistent enough. We performed a meta-analysis of the efficacy of interventions to prevent or correct overweight and obesity in pre-pubertal children. Thirty-one Cochrane systematic reviews were analyzed, the results of 10 RCTs and two prospective comparative studies were extracted. All trials had an moderate or high risk of bias. According to the results of meta-analyzes, the prevention of overweight and obesity through recommendations of lifestyle modification is effective, the difference in a BMI decrease is -0.19, 95% CI [-0.35; -0.03], compared with the absence of intervention, in children 7–8 years old if applied within 2–4 years, but not within one year or less. The effect of non-drug interventions in children with overweight or obesity was not revealed.

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