Table 2.

Subgroup analyses of school-based weight management interventions

	Subgroups	No of studies (Ref)	No of participants (intervention/control)	g	95 % CI	Within-group Q	P	Subgroup difference Q	P
Comparators	Passive comparator	6 (51–53,55,58,59,62)	561/604	0·73	–1·19, 0·27	71·52	<0·01‡
	Active comparator	6 (54,56,57,60,61,63)	306/284	0·28	–0·60, 0·04	21·97	<0·01‡	2·44	0·12
Counselling	With counselling	5 (52–54,60,62)	266/263	0·43	–0·60, –0·25	4·21	0·38
	Without counselling	7 (51,55–59,63)	601/625	0·59	–1·09, –0·09	103·94	<0·01‡	0·37	0·55
Curriculum	During school	5 (54,57,58,61,62)	305/275	0·49	–1·03, –0·05	50·77	<0·01‡
	After school	4 (51–53,55,63)	418/452	0·39	–0·67, –0·11	11·28	<0·05†
	During and after school	2 (59,60)	144/161	0·86	–2·09, 0·36	25·09	<0·01‡	0·61	0·74
Economies	Lower-middle to upper-middle economies	5 (51–53,58,59,62)	450/460	0·84	–1·34, –0·33	60·70	<0·01‡
	High-income economies	7 (54–57,60,61,63)	417/428	0·27	–0·54, 0·01	22·01	<0·01‡	3·81	< 0·1*
Intervention length (months)	6 months or less	6 (51,54,58,59,61,63)	440/457	0·79	–1·25, –0·32	67·16	<0·01‡
	More than 6 months	6 (52,53,55–57,60,62)	427/431	0·24	–0·48, –0·00	17·91	<0·01‡	4·14	0·04†
Focus of intervention	Individual	6 (54,56,58,60,61,63)	262/266	0·59	–0·99, –0·19	29·56	<0·01‡
	Group	6 (51–53,55,57,59,62)	605/622	0·46	–0·93, 0·01	72·73	<0·01‡	0·18	0·67
Number of sessions	40 sessions or less	7 (51,54,57,58,61–63)	503/479	0·50	–0·91, –0·09	59·49	<0·01‡
	More than 40 sessions	5 (52,53,55,56,59,60)	364/409	0·54	–1·03, –0·06	44·47	<0·01‡	0·02	0·89
Nutrition education	With nutrition education	9 (51–53,55–59,62,63)	729/750	0·59	–0·97, –0·20	104·64	<0·01‡
	Without nutrition education	3 (54,60,61)	138/138	0·31	–0·55, –0·06	2·01	0·37	1·43	0·23
Parental involvement	No parental involvement	5 (54,57,58,60,61)	318/292	0·42	–0·96, 0·13	49·92	<0·01‡
	Parental involvement	7 (51–53,55,56,59,62,63)	549/596	0·59	–0·95, –0·24	55·36	<0·01‡	0·29	0·59
Physical activity	With physical activity	9 (51–53,55–57,59,60,62,63)	715/739	0·45	–0·79, –0·12	79·27	<0·01‡
	Without physical activity	3 (54,58,61)	152/149	0·71	–1·43, 0·01	19·92	<0·01‡	0·40	0·53
Professional	Medical and health science professionals	8 (51–56,59–61)	255/235	0·45	–0·76, –0·14	54·74	<0·01‡
	Educators and trained staff	4 (57,58,62,63)	612/653	0·67	–1·35, 0·01	53·19	<0·01‡	0·32	< 0·57
Size per cluster	25 participants or less	7 (51–54,56,60,61,63)	445/446	0·38	–0·60, –0·17	12·49	<0·1*
	More than 25 participants	5 (55,57–59,62)	422/442	0·69	–1·34, –0·03	108·20	<0·01‡	0·74	0·39
Theoretical framework	With theoretical framework	9 (52–54,56–58,60–63)	502/477	0·48	–0·80, –0·17	57·78	<0·01‡
	Without theoretical framework	3 (51,55,59)	365/411	0·62	–1·46, 0·22	50·29	<0·01‡	0·09	0·77

^* P < 0·1.

^† P < 0·05.

^‡ P < 0·01.