Translational research: are community-based child obesity treatment programs scalable?

BACKGROUND Community-based obesity treatment programs have become an important response to address child obesity; however the majority of these programs are small, efficacy trials, few are translated into real-world situations (i.e., dissemination trials). Here we report the short-term impact of a scaled-up, community-based obesity treatment program on children's weight and weight-related behaviours disseminated under real world conditions. METHODS Children age 6-15 years with a body mass index (BMI) ≥ 85th percentile with no co-morbidities, and their parents/carers participated in a twice weekly, 10-week after-school child obesity treatment program between 2009 and 2012. Outcome information included measures of weight and weight-related behaviours. Analyses were adjusted for clustering and socio-demographic variables. RESULTS Overall, 2,812 children participated (54.2% girls; M(age) 10.1 (2.0) years; M(attaendance) 12.9 (5.9) sessions). Beneficial changes among all children included BMI (-0.65 kg/m(2)), BMI-z-score (-0.11), waist circumference (-1.8 cm), and WtHtr (-0.02); self-esteem (+2.7 units), physical activity (+1.2 days/week), screen time (-4.8 h/week), and unhealthy foods index (-2.4 units) (all p < 0.001). Children who completed ≥ 75% of the program were more likely to have beneficial changes in BMI, self-esteem and diet (sugar sweetened beverages, lollies/chocolate, hot chips and takeaways) compared with children completing <75% of the program. CONCLUSIONS This is one of the few studies to report outcomes of a government-funded, program at scale in a real-world setting, and shows that investment in a community-based child obesity treatment program holds potential to produce short-term changes in weight and weight-related behaviours. The findings support government investment in this health priority area, and demonstrate that community-based models of child obesity treatment are a promising adjunctive intervention to health service provision at all levels of care.