Eight-year follow-up of school-based intervention on childhood overweight--the Kiel Obesity Prevention Study.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to evaluate the 8-year outcome of school-based intervention on weight status, lifestyle and blood pressure (BP) as part of the Kiel Obesity Prevention Study (KOPS).

METHODS

Within a quasi-randomized controlled trial, 240 intervention (I) and 952 non-intervention (NI) students at age 6 and 14 years were assessed in schools. Six nutrition units followed by 20-min running games were performed within the first year at school. Primary outcome was the 8-year change in body mass index standard deviation score (BMI-SDS) according to German references. Effective intervention was tested using multilevel linear regression analysis.

RESULTS

Eight-year changes in BMISDS were +0.18 and +0.22 with increases in prevalence of overweight from 8.3 to 10.4% and 7.0 to 11.2% in I and NI students, respectively. Cumulative 8-year incidence of overweight was 5.9% and 7.1% in I and NI students, respectively. There was no overall effect of intervention, but a significant interaction was shown between the intervention and the socio-economic status (SES), which demonstrated that in high SES, the 8-year change in BMI-SDS was in favour of I (-0.17 in I and +0.17 in NI; p < 0.01). Intervention had no measurable effects on lifestyle and BP.

CONCLUSIONS

School-based health promotion has some favourable and sustained effects on 8-year changes in BMI-SDS, which are most pronounced in students of high SES families. The data argue in favour of further preventive measures.