Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Feb;22(2):e13153.
doi: 10.1111/obr.13153.

Social disparities in obesity treatment for children age 3-10 years: A systematic review

Tim Lobstein  1   2 , Margot Neveux  1 , Tamara Brown  3 , Li Kheng Chai  4   5 , Clare E Collins  6 , Louisa J Ells  7 , Paulina Nowicka  8   9 ; STOP project consortium
Affiliations

Social disparities in obesity treatment for children age 3-10 years: A systematic review

Tim Lobstein et al. Obes Rev. 2021 Feb.

Abstract

Socio-economic status and ethnic background are recognized as predictors of risk for the development of obesity in childhood. The present review assesses the effectiveness of treatment for children according to their socio-economic and ethnic background. Sixty-four systematic reviews were included, from which there was difficulty reaching general conclusions on the approaches to treatment suitable for different social subgroups. Eighty-one primary studies cited in the systematic reviews met the inclusion criteria, of which five directly addressed differential effectiveness of treatment in relation to social disparities, with inconsistent conclusions. From a weak evidence base, it appears that treatment effectiveness may be affected by family-level factors including attitudes to overweight, understanding of the causes of weight gain and motivation to make and maintain family-level changes in health behaviours. Interventions should be culturally and socially sensitive, avoid stigma, encourage motivation, recognize barriers and reinforce opportunities and be achievable within the family's time and financial resources. However, the evidence base is remarkably limited, given the significance of social and economic disparities as risk factors. Research funding agencies need to ensure that a focus on social disparities in paediatric obesity treatment is a high priority for future research.

Keywords: disparity; family attitudes; household resources; inequality; paediatric; socio-economic; treatment.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

REFERENCES

    1. NCD Risk Factor Collaboration. Worldwide trends in bodymass index, underweight, overweight, and obesity from 1975 to 2016: a pooled analysis of 2416 population-based measurement studies in 128.9 million children, adolescents, and adults. Lancet. 2017;390:2627-2642. with additional data from the NCD-RisC online database at www.ncdrisc.org
    1. Lobstein T, Baur L, Uauy R. Obesity in children and young people: a crisis in public health. Obes Rev. 2004;5(s1):4-85.
    1. Hill AJ, Social and Psychological Factors in Obesity. In Williams G. Williams G. Frühbeck G. Obesity: Science to Practice. Wiley; 2009, pp 347-366.
    1. Ulijaszek SJ, Pentecost M, Marcus C, Karpe F, Frühbeck G, Nowicka P. Inequality and childhood overweight and obesity: a commentary. Pediatr Obes. 2017;12(3):195-202.
    1. Brown T, Smith S, Bhopal R, Kasim A, Summerbell C. Diet and physical activity interventions to prevent or treat obesity in south Asian children and adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2015;12(1):566-594.

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources