Effects of a Family-Based Childhood Obesity Treatment Program on Parental Weight Status

Objective
The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of overweight/obesity among parents of children entering childhood obesity treatment and to evaluate changes in the parents’ weight statuses during their child’s treatment.
Methods
The study included parents of 1,125 children and adolescents aged 3–22 years, who were enrolled in a multidisciplinary childhood obesity treatment program. At baseline, weight and height of the parents were obtained by self-reported information and parental body mass index (BMI) was calculated. Weight and height of the children were measured in the clinic and BMI standard deviation scores were calculated. Furthermore, anthropometric data from parents of 664 children were obtained by telephone interview after a mean of 2.5 years of treatment (ranging 16 days to 7 years), and changes in parental BMI were analyzed.
Results
Data on changes in BMI were available in 606 mothers and 479 fathers. At baseline, the median BMI of the mothers was 28.1 kg/m2 (range: 16.9–66.6), and the median BMI of the fathers was 28.9 kg/m2 (range: 17.2–48.1). Seventy percent of the mothers and 80% of the fathers were overweight or obese at the time of their child’s treatment initiation. Both the mothers and fathers lost weight during their child’s treatment with a mean decrease in BMI in the mothers of 0.5 (95% CI: 0.2–0.8, p = 0.0006) and in the fathers of 0.4 (95% CI: 0.2–0.6, p = 0.0007). Of the overweight/obese parents, 60% of the mothers and 58% of the fathers lost weight during their child’s treatment.
Conclusion
There is a high prevalence of overweight/obesity among parents of children entering childhood obesity treatment. Family-based childhood obesity treatment with a focus on the child has a positive effect on parental BMI with both mothers and fathers losing weight.
Trial Registration
ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00928473

研究目的
本研究旨在调查纳入儿童肥胖治疗项目的儿童的父母中超重/肥胖的患病率，并评估在其子女接受治疗期间，父母体重状态的变化情况。

研究方法
本研究纳入了1125名年龄3~22岁的儿童及青少年的父母，这些儿童青少年均参与了一项多学科儿童肥胖治疗项目。基线阶段，通过自我报告的方式收集父母的身高与体重数据，并计算父母的体重指数（Body Mass Index, BMI）；儿童的身高与体重则在临床环境中进行测量，并计算其BMI标准差评分。此外，在平均2.5年的治疗周期（范围为16天至7年）后，通过电话访谈获取了664名儿童的父母的人体测量学数据，并分析了父母BMI的变化情况。

研究结果
共有606名母亲与479名父亲的BMI变化数据可用。基线阶段，母亲的BMI中位数为28.1 kg/m²（范围：16.9~66.6），父亲的BMI中位数为28.9 kg/m²（范围：17.2~48.1）。在其子女启动治疗时，70%的母亲与80%的父亲存在超重或肥胖情况。在子女接受治疗期间，母亲与父亲的体重均出现下降：母亲的BMI平均降低0.5（95%置信区间：0.2~0.8，p=0.0006），父亲的BMI平均降低0.4（95%置信区间：0.2~0.6，p=0.0007）。在超重/肥胖的父母中，60%的母亲与58%的父亲在子女接受治疗期间实现了体重下降。

研究结论
纳入儿童肥胖治疗项目的儿童的父母中，超重/肥胖的患病率较高。以儿童为核心的家庭式儿童肥胖治疗，可对父母的BMI产生积极影响，使母亲与父亲的体重均出现下降。

试验注册
ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00928473