Early School-Based Health Promotion Intervention Beneficial

MONDAY, July 29, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Elementary school interventions may be more effective for abdominal adiposity when started early, according to a study published in the Aug. 6 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Gloria Santos-Beneit, Ph.D., from the Foundation for Science, Health and Education in Barcelona, Spain, and colleagues examined the effect of time-varying exposures to a multicomponent school-based health promotion intervention (SI! Program) on adiposity markers. Forty-eight schools were cluster randomized to receive the SI! Program through elementary grades (E) 1 to 6 (12 schools; 459 children), E1 to 3 (12 schools; 513 children), or E4 to 6 (12 schools; 419 children), or to receive the standard curriculum (12 schools; 379 children [control]).

The researchers found that children who had the intervention showed significantly lower increases at three-year follow-up than controls in z-scores for body mass index (BMI), waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), and waist circumference (WC) (−0.09, −0.19 and −0.19, respectively). The beneficial trend in z scores for WC and WHtR was maintained at six-year follow-up in the E1-6 and E1-3 groups (−0.19 and −0.22, respectively, versus controls). For the change in knowledge-attitudes-habits score, there were no significant between-group differences observed.

"The SI! Program for Elementary Schools trial showed a beneficial effect on child abdominal adiposity markers (WC and WHtR) and a more modest effect on excess weight (BMI)," the authors write. "The ideal timing to achieve sustained positive effects in school-based health promotion initiatives may depend on multiple factors, such as the duration and intensity of the intervention, and particularly the age of the children."

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