Young children and obesity : development and evaluation of familiy-oriented treatment
Thesis: Young Children and Obesity – Development and Evaluation of Family-oriented Treatment, Esther van Hoek Introduction The prevalence of childhood obesity has increased rapidly during the last decades. Childhood obesity is a multisystem disease with serious consequences such as hypertension, dyslipidemia, chronic inflammation, endothelial dysfunction and hyperinsulinemia. In addition, obese children have a decreased health-related quality of life (HRQoL). The age interval of 3 to 7 years is a critical growth period. Fast increase of weight in this period is associated with obesity later in life. Furthermore, starting treatment at younger age is associated with a larger reduction in overweight. At the start of this project in 2009, there was no evaluated treatment program available for young obese children (defined as 3 to 8 years). The risk of cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes (i.e. cardiometabolic risk) can be assessed by measuring conventional risk factors (for example blood pressure). Other markers, such as pro-inflammatory markers, are part of the cardiometabolic risk profile. Epicardial adipose tissue is a metabolically active cardiac fat depot. In obese adults, the epicardial adipose tissue thickness (EATT) is increased, this is correlated to atherosclerosis. It is unknown whether young overweight children have already increased EATT. The aim of this thesis is to develop, implement and evaluate a treatment program for obese young children. Furthermore, it aims to assess whether EATT is increased in obese young children and is correlated with the cardiometabolic risk profile, and with treatment. Methods The treatment program for obese young children is developed based on a review of the clinical guidelines, a literature review (including a systematic review with meta-analysis and an extended literature review) and target group interviews. The findings were integrated with professional judgement. To evaluate the resulting program called AanTafel!, a pilot study was performed (n=7 children), including a process evaluation based on parental interviews and questionnaires with the therapists. The effectiveness of AanTafel! was evaluated with a pre-post-test design including 40 children with a median BMI z-score of 3.4 (standard deviation 1.0) in secondary care. The BMI-z-score was the main outcome measure. Secondary outcome measures were components of the metabolic syndrome, markers of cardiometabolic risk, and HRQoL. Outcome measures were assessed at baseline and at the end of treatment (1 year). The BMI z-score was also evaluated 3 years after baseline in the first 23 children who finished treatment. EATT was measured by echocardiography in 25 obese, 8 overweight, and 15 normal weight young children. In the obese and overweight children the EATT, as well as cardiometabolic risk factors, and the markers adiponectin and high sensitive CRP (hsCRP) were measured at baseline and after treatment. Results Meta-analysis showed that multicomponent treatment programs of moderate or high intensity (> 26 hours) were the most effective and resulted in a decrease of BMI z-score of 0.5. During the development of the treatment program, the gaps in evidence in clinical guidelines for childhood obesity treatment were overcome by insights from an additional literature review, target group interviews and professional judgement. The resulting treatment program AanTafel! has the following key characteristics: multicomponent, multidisciplinary, family-based with focus on parents, age-specific, tailored to individual children and families, a duration of one year and a combination of individual and group sessions and a web-based learning module. The pilot study showed that to improve parental involvement, peer support, family tailoring, and highly participative elements (such as self-monitoring) are important. The treatment program AanTafel! resulted in a change of mean BMI z-score of -0.5 directly after finishing treatment. This clinical relevant result persisted 2 years after baseline. Furthermore, a significant increase in HDL cholesterol and a reduction in the number of components of metabolic syndrome were found. Regarding markers of cardiometabolic risk, an overall significant decrease was seen in IL18, e-selectin, and sICAM. The HRQoL showed a non-significant improvement in most domains, with a clinically relevant improvement in the physical summary score. EATT was higher in overweight and obese young children compared to their normal weight peers. EATT was inversely correlated with adiponectin, but correlations with other cardiometabolic risk factors were not statistically significant. EATT did not change during treatment (n=17). Conclusion During the development process of an obesity treatment program, it was important to add the views of the target group and therapists to the evidence from clinical guidelines and literature review. The resulting treatment program AanTafel! is effective with a clinically relevant decrease of BMI z-score, an improvement of cardiometabolic risk profile, and a clinically relevant increase in the physical summary score of HRQoL. EATT is increased in obese young children; this is inversely correlated with adiponectin.
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| Format: | Doctoral thesis biblioteca |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wageningen University
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| Subjects: | adipose tissue, body composition, cardiovascular diseases, childhood diseases, children, medical treatment, nutrition and health, obesity, overweight, paediatrics, preschool children, quality of life, quantitative methods, treatment, behandeling, hart- en vaatziekten, kinderen, kinderziekten, kwaliteit van het leven, kwantitatieve methoden, lichaamssamenstelling, medische behandeling, obesitas, overgewicht, pediatrie, peuters en kleuters, vetweefsel, voeding en gezondheid, |
| Online Access: | https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/young-children-and-obesity-development-and-evaluation-of-familiy- |
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