Methods |
Study design: Randomised controlled trial Funding: "Funding for this study came from NIH grant K01DK068008 and a St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital Pilot Award. Additional support came from the Obesity Research Center Grant" |
|
Participants |
Description: Healthy children aged 4 to 5 years from diverse ethnic backgrounds N (Randomised): 19 children Age: 4 to 5 years % Female: Not specified SES and ethnicity: “from diverse ethnic backgrounds.” Inclusion/exclusion criteria: “All the children were “at risk for obesity,” based on having at least one parent with a BMI≥25 kg/m2, and they had to consume fewer than two servings of F&V per day, based on parental report during a screening phone call.” Recruitment: Not specified Recruitment rate: Unknown Region: Pennsylvania (USA) |
|
Interventions |
Number of experimental conditions: 2 Number of participants (analysed): Intervention = 7, Control = 9 Description of intervention: “Families in both groups attended weekly, small‐group sessions with the researchers where baseline measures were taken and family‐based nutrition education was delivered.” Children in the intervention group were “given F&V in containers decorated with their favorite cartoon characters. In addition, a sticker was included inside each decorated container to simulate the practice of premiums used by the food industry; children were allowed to collect these stickers on a game board to cash in for a prize the following week.” Duration: 7 weeks Number of contacts: Weekly group sessions and offered F&V containers 3 times a day Setting: Home + Lab Modality: Face‐to‐face Interventionist: Parents and researchers Integrity: No information provided Date of study: Unknown Description of control: “Children who were in the control group received F&V in plain plastic containers throughout the study” |
|
Outcomes |
Outcome relating to children's fruit and
vegetable consumption: Child’s consumption of fruit and vegetables (grams, servings per day). F&V containers were stored by parents throughout the study period and taken back to the lab to be weighed Outcome relating to absolute costs/cost effectiveness of interventions: Not reported Outcome relating to reported adverse events: Not reported Length of follow‐up from baseline: 7 weeks Length of follow‐up post‐intervention: Immediately Subgroup analyses: None Loss to follow‐up: Overall = 16% (not specified by group) Analysis: Unknown if sample size calculations performed. |
|
Notes | First reported outcome (grams vegetables/week) was
extracted for inclusion in the
meta‐analysis. Sensitivity analysis ‐ primary outcome: Primary outcome not stated, fruit or vegetable intake only outcome reported |
|
Risk of bias | ||
Bias | Authors' judgement | Support for judgement |
Random sequence generation (selection bias) | Unclear risk | There is not enough information to determine the sequence generation |
Allocation concealment (selection bias) | Unclear risk | There is not enough information to determine allocation concealment |
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes | Low risk | The outcome is objective consumption of fruit & veg which is unlikely to be influenced by lack of participant & personnel blinding |
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes | Low risk | Objective assessment (weight) of fruit and vegetable consumption therefore low risk |
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes | High risk | 16/19 (84%) children completed the 7‐week study, however 3 children were excluded from the analysis. Intention‐to‐treat analysis was not used, therefore high risk of bias |
Selective reporting (reporting bias) | Unclear risk | There is not enough information to determine if there is any reporting bias |
Other bias | Unclear risk | There is baseline imbalance between the study groups. Children in the intervention group consumed more servings of fruit & veg at baseline. Not clear of the impact this may have had on the results |