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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2012 Mar 1.
Published in final edited form as: J Res Adolesc. 2011 Mar;21(1):129–152. doi: 10.1111/j.1532-7795.2010.00719.x

Table 1.

Six comprehensive reviews of obesity treatment and prevention trials.

Treatment
Source Inclusion Criteria Number of Studies N (%) studies that significantly reduced BMI or adiposity
(McGovern, et al., 2008)

  • Published RCT

  • Overweight youth

  • Age 2–18

  • Pharmacological or lifestyle interventions

  • Excluded Type 1 diabetes, obesity syndromes, eating disorders

 14 Pharmaceutical
17 Physical activity
3 Reduce Sedentary
26 Lifestyle		 5 (36%)
2 (12%)
3 (0%)
7 (27%)

Overall: 23%
(Atlantis, Barnes, & Singh, 2006)

  • Exercise/physical activity treatment in overweight/obese children or adolescents (could include nutrition)

  • Any overweight outcome

 14 2 (14%)
(Oude Luttikhuis, et al., 2009)

  • Published RCT

  • Obesity treatment in children (mean age under 18 years)

  • Minimum of 6 months follow up (3 for drug therapy).

  • Excluded eating disorders, type 2 diabetes, syndromic causes of obesity

 64


8 lifestyle and 4 drug trials used for pooled analyses		 (Of the 12 studies in pooled analyses)

5 of 8 (63%) (at 6 months)

3 of 4 (74%)
Prevention
(Dobbins, De Corby, Robeson, Husson, & Tirilis, 2009)

  • School setting

  • Aimed at increasing physical activity

  • Children and adolescents (aged 6 to 18 years)

  • Prospective design with a control group.

 26
Only 14 studies report BMI		 (Of 14 studies reporting BMI)

4 (29%)
(Stice, Shaw, & Marti, 2006)

  • RCT

  • Prevention in youth

  • Measure of adiposity

  • Children and adolescents up to 22 years of age

 61 13 (21%)
(Summerbell, et al., 2005)

  • RCT

  • Minimum 12 months

  • Children under 18

  • Excluded obesity treatment, eating disorders

 22

19 school-based
1 community-based
2 family-based		 4 (18%)