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Clinical Trial
. 2011 Feb 8:11:13.
doi: 10.1186/1471-2431-11-13.

Short-term outcomes of community-based adolescent weight management: The Loozit® Study

Vanessa A Shrewsbury  1 , Binh Nguyen, Janice O'Connor, Katharine S Steinbeck, Anthea Lee, Andrew J Hill, Smita Shah, Michael R Kohn, Siranda Torvaldsen, Louise A Baur
Affiliations
Clinical Trial

Short-term outcomes of community-based adolescent weight management: The Loozit® Study

Vanessa A Shrewsbury et al. BMC Pediatr. .

Abstract

Background: The Loozit(®) Study is a randomised controlled trial investigating extended support in a 24 month community-based weight management program for overweight to moderately obese, but otherwise healthy, 13 to 16 year olds.

Methods: This pre-post study examines the two month outcomes of the initial Loozit(®) group intervention received by both study arms. Adolescents (n = 151; 48% male) and their parents separately attended seven weekly group sessions focused on lifestyle modification. At baseline and two months, adolescents' anthropometry, blood pressure, and fasted blood sample were assessed. Primary outcomes were two month changes in body mass index (BMI) z-score and waist-to-height-ratio (WHtR). Secondary outcomes included changes in metabolic profile, self-reported dietary intake/patterns, physical and sedentary activities, psychological characteristics and social status. Changes in outcome measures were assessed using paired samples t-tests for continuous variables or McNemar's test for dichotomous categorical variables.

Results: Of the 151 adolescents who enrolled, 130 (86%) completed the two month program. Among these 130 adolescents (47% male), there was a statistically significant (P < 0.01) reduction in mean [95% CI] BMI (0.27 kg/m2 [0.41, 0.13]), BMI z-score (0.05 [0.06, 0.03]), WHtR (0.02 [0.03, 0.01]), total cholesterol (0.14 mmol/L [0.24, 0.05]) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (0.12 mmol/L [0.21, 0.04]). There were improvements in all psychological measures, the majority of the dietary intake measures, and some physical activities (P < 0.05). Time spent watching TV and participating in non-screen sedentary activities decreased (P < 0.05).

Conclusions: The Loozit(®) program may be a promising option for stabilizing overweight and improving various metabolic factors, psychological functioning and lifestyle behaviors in overweight adolescents in a community setting.

Trial registration: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials RegistryACTRNO12606000175572.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Participant flow in the Loozit® Study. Footnote: a Abbreviations: G - group only intervention; G + ATC - group + additional therapeutic contact intervention involving telephone coaching and SMS/email communication. ATC commences after 2 month outcome assessment. b Only 2 month outcomes are reported in this paper. Both study arms have received the same intervention thus far and therefore are analysed as one group. c Data collection is underway for 12 & 24 month outcomes and is expected to be completed in 2011. Differences between study arms will be reported.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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