Iranian children with overweight and obesity: an internet-based interventional study

BACKGROUND: Obesity or overweight in children is an excessive accumulation of adipose tissue that can potentially regress health indicators and increase the likelihood of various diseases. OBJECTIVES: This model was implemented to improve the nutritional status and lifestyle behavior of children aged 6–12 years with overweight/obesity. METHODS: A quasi-experimental design with 90 participants in each control and intervention group with a multistage cluster random sampling method after reviewing the literature, and their screening by experts were adopted. RESULTS: After 6 months there were significant differences in Body Mass Index and weight for age percentile values of children allocated in control and intervention groups after controlling for beginning values (p = 0.024, Partial eta2 = 0.028, 0.044, Partial eta2 = 0.023), respectively. Although there was an increased rate in BMI and weight for age percentile in both groups this increase in the control group after the 6th month significantly was more than that in the intervention group after the 6th months. A considerable difference in BMI of girls after the intervention was observed in the experimental group (p = 0.006, Partial eta2 = 0.092). However, our results showed that there was no significant difference in BMI of boys in the intervention and control groups before and 6 months after the intervention (p = 0.507). CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that though the weight increase rate was lower in the experimental group, the implemented model alone was not enough. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (IRCT): IRCT20200717048124N1 at 05/08/2020, retrospectively registered.