Premium
Cardiac Kids Club: A Childhood Obesity Prevention Afterschool Intervention for Elementary School Students
Author(s) -
Spence Marsha,
McDonald Aneisa,
PerryBurst Carolyn
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.29.1_supplement.120.2
Subject(s) - overweight , medicine , body mass index , obesity , physical therapy , percentile , anthropometry , physical fitness , cardiovascular fitness , childhood obesity , gerontology , statistics , mathematics
The objective of this study was to assess pre‐ and post‐intervention dietary intake measures, physical activity levels, and body mass index (BMI) of students enrolled in a 10‐week (2 sessions per week) afterschool obesity prevention program. This one group pretest‐posttest design used a validated dietary intake survey, fitness measures using FitnessGram , and height and weight measurements taken by trained research assistants and school health personnel. The program was conducted in 6 elementary schools with 134 participants in grades 4 and 5; 111 participants (82.8%) completed all study components. Sixty‐four of the participants (57.7%) were overweight or obese (age‐ and sex‐specific BMI > 85 th percentile) at baseline. Mean BMI among overweight and obese participants significantly decreased (p=0.02) from 94.77 (SD 4.41) to 93.80 (SD 5.89), while BMI among normal weight participants did not significantly decrease (p=0.44). Dietary intake measures were not significantly improved from pre to post. Fitness measures (curl up, trunk lift, right and left sit and stretch, pushups, and mile run) were significantly improved among all participants (p<0.001); these measures were also significantly improved among overweight and obese participants (p<0.01). Although dietary intake measures were not improved, the program was successful in improving BMI among overweight and obese participants and fitness levels improved for all participants, including overweight and obese participants.