Skip to main content
Archives of Disease in Childhood logoLink to Archives of Disease in Childhood
. 2005 Sep 27;90(12):1235–1238. doi: 10.1136/adc.2005.071753

A two year family based behaviour treatment for obese children

J Jiang 1, X Xia 1, T Greiner 1, G Lian 1, U Rosenqvist 1
PMCID: PMC1720215  PMID: 16188958

Abstract

Background: Childhood obesity has become a nutritional problem in China since the 1990s.

Aims: A family based behavioural treatment was developed and tested, to see if its use was feasible in China and to evaluate its impact on obese schoolchildren.

Methods: In a single school in Beijing, 33 obese children were randomly assigned to a treatment group and 35 to a control group. The treatment group participated in a family based behavioural treatment programme for two years. Height and weight were measured every six months for all participants. Blood pressure, cholesterol, and triglyceride levels were measured at baseline and after two years of programme implementation.

Results: Body mass index (BMI, kg/m2) was significantly reduced in the treatment group (from 26.6 (1.7) to 24.0 (0.9), 95% CI 2.06 to 3.18) but not in the control group (from 26.1 (1.5) to 26.0 (1.6)). Total cholesterol decreased 5.5% and triglycerides 9.7% in the treatment group. There was a significant correlation between change in BMI and change in triglycerides. There were no significant changes in plasma lipids in the controls. Blood pressure values also decreased significantly in the treatment, but not the control group.

Conclusions: A family based behavioural intervention was feasible to use in treating obesity in schoolchildren in Beijing, China. After two years of implementation, it successfully decreased the degree of obesity, reduced levels of blood pressure, and decreased serum lipids in treatment; there were no significant changes among control children.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (71.4 KB).

Figure 1.

Figure 1

 Mean BMI-SDs (Z scores) for treatment and control groups by duration of the trial.

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Berkowitz Robert I., Wadden Thomas A., Tershakovec Andrew M., Cronquist Joanna L. Behavior therapy and sibutramine for the treatment of adolescent obesity: a randomized controlled trial. JAMA. 2003 Apr 9;289(14):1805–1812. doi: 10.1001/jama.289.14.1805. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Eliakim Alon, Kaven Galit, Berger Isaac, Friedland Orit, Wolach Baruch, Nemet Dan. The effect of a combined intervention on body mass index and fitness in obese children and adolescents - a clinical experience. Eur J Pediatr. 2002 Jun 28;161(8):449–454. doi: 10.1007/s00431-002-0980-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Epstein L. H., Paluch R. A., Gordy C. C., Dorn J. Decreasing sedentary behaviors in treating pediatric obesity. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2000 Mar;154(3):220–226. doi: 10.1001/archpedi.154.3.220. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Epstein L. H., Roemmich J. N., Raynor H. A. Behavioral therapy in the treatment of pediatric obesity. Pediatr Clin North Am. 2001 Aug;48(4):981–993. doi: 10.1016/s0031-3955(05)70352-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Friedland Orit, Nemet Dan, Gorodnitsky Natalia, Wolach Baruch, Eliakim Alon. Obesity and lipid profiles in children and adolescents. J Pediatr Endocrinol Metab. 2002 Jul-Aug;15(7):1011–1016. doi: 10.1515/JPEM.2002.15.7.1011. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Ghannem H., Darioli R., Limam K., Harrabi I., Gaha R., Trabelsi L., Fredj A. H., Bouslama A. Epidemiology of cardiovascular risk factors among schoolchildren in Sousse, Tunisia. J Cardiovasc Risk. 2001 Apr;8(2):87–91. doi: 10.1177/174182670100800205. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Levine M. D., Ringham R. M., Kalarchian M. A., Wisniewski L., Marcus M. D. Is family-based behavioral weight control appropriate for severe pediatric obesity? Int J Eat Disord. 2001 Nov;30(3):318–328. doi: 10.1002/eat.1091. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Luo J., Hu F. B. Time trends of obesity in pre-school children in China from 1989 to 1997. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 2002 Apr;26(4):553–558. doi: 10.1038/sj.ijo.0801944. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Ogden Cynthia L., Flegal Katherine M., Carroll Margaret D., Johnson Clifford L. Prevalence and trends in overweight among US children and adolescents, 1999-2000. JAMA. 2002 Oct 9;288(14):1728–1732. doi: 10.1001/jama.288.14.1728. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Smith J. C., Sorey W. H., Quebedeau D., Skelton L. Use of body mass index to monitor treatment of obese adolescents. J Adolesc Health. 1997 Jun;20(6):466–469. doi: 10.1016/S1054-139X(96)00240-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Sorof Jonathan, Daniels Stephen. Obesity hypertension in children: a problem of epidemic proportions. Hypertension. 2002 Oct;40(4):441–447. doi: 10.1161/01.hyp.0000032940.33466.12. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Sothern M. S., Despinasse B., Brown R., Suskind R. M., Udall J. N., Jr, Blecker U. Lipid profiles of obese children and adolescents before and after significant weight loss: differences according to sex. South Med J. 2000 Mar;93(3):278–282. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. St Jeor Sachiko T., Perumean-Chaney Suzanne, Sigman-Grant Madeleine, Williams Christine, Foreyt John. Family-based interventions for the treatment of childhood obesity. J Am Diet Assoc. 2002 May;102(5):640–644. doi: 10.1016/s0002-8223(02)90146-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Wadden T. A., Anderson D. A., Foster G. D. Two-year changes in lipids and lipoproteins associated with the maintenance of a 5% to 10% reduction in initial weight: some findings and some questions. Obes Res. 1999 Mar;7(2):170–178. doi: 10.1002/j.1550-8528.1999.tb00699.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Archives of Disease in Childhood are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES