Obes Rev

The goals of this systematic review were to identify and describe paediatric obesity prevention interventions from infancy to late adolescence and to provide recommendations for future intervention research in light of a recently proposed developmental cascade (DC) model of paediatric obesity. We conducted an electronic search of randomized controlled trials with a minimum 6-month postintervention follow-up published between 1995 and 2019. We included 74 interventions: prenatal/infancy (n = 4), early childhood (n = 11), childhood (n = 38), early to mid-adolescence (n = 18), and late adolescence (n = 3). Infancy and early childhood trials targeted early feeding and positive parenting skills. Half of the childhood and adolescence trials were school based and used universal prevention strategies; those classified as selective or indicated prevention tended to involve the family for more intensive lifestyle modification. Less than 10% of studies followed participants over long periods of time (greater than or equal to 5 years), and only 16% and 31% of studies assessed intervention mediators and moderators, respectively. We recommend that future interventions focus on early prevention, assess long-term intervention effects, use a standardized taxonomy for defining intervention behavioural strategies, assess underlying mechanisms of action and intervention moderators, target parent and family management strategies across development, and increase scientific equity. We also provide specific recommendations regarding intervention targets for each developmental stage.R01 MD007724/MD/NIMHD NIH HHS/United StatesDP006255/National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention/2018-68001-27550/DP/NCCDPHP CDC HHS/United StatesU18DP006255/ACL/ACL HHS/United StatesU18 DP006255/DP/NCCDPHP CDC HHS/United States016-10799/United States Department of Agriculture/K01 HL133521/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/United States2021-02-01T00:00:00Z31808277PMC69808927148vault:3452