Obesity
Conditions
Brief summary
This research project is part of the 'Cities for Better Health Childhood Obesity Prevention Initiative' (CBH COPI). The objective of the CBH COPI initiative is to develop, implement, and evaluate the effectiveness of a package of prevention interventions in five cities to promote healthy eating, physical activity, a positive health-related quality of life, and a reduction in rates living with overweight or obesity among children aged 6-13 years in six cities across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, South Africa and Spain. The primary research objective of CBH COPI is to estimate the impact of the intervention packages on the average BMI of the target population of children across the participating countries, at one-year and two-year follow-ups. The secondary research objective is to estimate the impact of the intervention packages on average health-related quality of life (HRQoL) at the same time points. Exploratory aims include estimating the impact of the packages on behaviours related to physical activity and diet.
Detailed description
Requirements for interventions: The interventions in each country will be multi-level multi-component (MLMC) community-based packages. Their exact features will be tailored to the needs and opportunities of each participating country. Requirements for study design: The minimum evaluation study design in terms of robustness is a repeated cross-sectional study with a comparison group. This involves measuring outcomes in a cross-section of children living in the intervention areas of a participating city (i.e. the areas in which the CBH COPI interventions were implemented) and a cross-section of children in similar comparison areas in which the interventions were not implemented, before and after the interventions are introduced. The global analysis will then compare trends in outcomes between intervention- and comparison-group areas. Countries are allowed to implement more robust designs (e.g. incorporating randomisation) if this is feasible. Each country-level study will collect a set of prespecified indicators at baseline and at two subsequent follow-ups (after 10-12 months, and after 20-24 months). The primary outcome indicator is BMI z-score and the required secondary and exploratory outcomes are defined above. A list of sociodemographic indicators (age, sex, ethnicity, household affluence) is also required to be collected (unless this is not feasible in an individual country for legal reasons). It is anticipated that 2,000 children in the target population will be recruited per data collection point (baseline, first follow-up, second follow-up) in each country. It is recommended (as the default option) that data are collected from 20 'clusters' (schools) from at least 10 'neighbourhoods' (administrative areas or school catchment areas, depending on the country) over these time points. This set up gives a minimum detectable effect size of Cohen's d = 0.15 in country-level analyses. The sample of neighbourhoods/clusters will be chosen according to feasibility and representativeness considerations in each country. Local evaluations will be adapted to fit with the social, cultural and policy landscape of each implementing site.
Interventions
Community-based intervention packages * Intervention packages are expected to consist of multiple specific activities tailored to the local context. All intervention packages will be designed to be (i) multi-level (i.e. targeting at least two of individual, external and structural environments), (ii) multi-component (i.e. targeting both healthy diet and physical activity), (iii) co-created with local communities in which they are implemented and (iv) health equity oriented in terms of both access and improvement. The exact package of interventions will differ by country and is expected to evolve pragmatically over time. * The intervention group in each country will be made up of (children in) neighbourhoods where intervention packages are implemented.
Sponsors
Study design
Eligibility
Inclusion criteria
To be eligible to be involved in data collection, children must attend the 'clusters' (schools) that are part of the study. In each cluster, country evaluation teams will try to ensure that the sample of children selected for data collection is representative of the total population in that cluster (e.g. the full list of students ages 6-13 who go to that school) - in particular, with respect to age and sex. All countries will also use the inclusion and
Exclusion criteria
below for children in the study: Inclusion Criteria: * Informed consent obtained by the child's parent or legal guardian before any study-related activities (where study-related activities are defined as any procedure related to recording of data according to the protocol). The specific consent form and procedures for obtaining consent will be outlined by the local project partner. * Aged 6-13 years (both 6 and 13 allowed) at the time of signing consent. Deviations from or exceptions to this procedure must be agreed between the research team in the relevant country and the GIP, and are subject to the relevant local ethical amendment procedure. The exception must be due to a scientifically sound rationale and must further consider the following guiding principles: "it must be measurable, it must have marginal utility, it must be meaningful (i.e. linked to the ultimate impact and the primary and/or secondary objective)".
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Body mass index z-score (BMI-z) adjusted for age and sex | At baseline, 1st follow-up (10-12 months) and 2nd follow-up (20-24 months) | z-score |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Health-related quality of life (HRQoL), proxied by KIDSCREEN-10 index | At baseline, 1st follow-up (10-12 months) and 2nd follow-up (20-24 months) | Constructed from KIDSCREEN-10 survey. Each of the 10 measures is coded from 1-5. Sum across 10 measures to create a total score (10-50) and linearly rescale to 0-100 for interpretation. |
Countries
Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, South Africa, Spain
Contacts
Novo Nordisk A/S