Outcomes from a Pediatric Primary Care Weight Management Program: Steps to Growing Up Healthy

Objective To examine the efficacy of Steps to Growing Up Healthy, an obesity prevention intervention in preschool-age, urban-dwelling minority children. Study design Thirty-two pediatric primary care clinicians used a brief (3- to 5-minute) evidence-based behavior change intervention with low-income mothers of children aged 2-4 years during each regularly scheduled clinic visit over a 12-month period to target 4 specific obesogenic behaviors (milk consumption, juice and sugar-sweetened beverage consumption, television/screen time, and physical activity). A written contract, self-monitoring calendar, and telephone follow-up at 5-7 days after the clinic visit reinforced the intervention. Body mass index (BMI) percentile over 12 months and obesogenic behaviors were compared with those of a sex- and age-matched historical control group drawn from the same clinic. Results Between January 2009 and November 2012, 418 mother-child dyads (82% Hispanic and 18% African American; mean child age, 35.8 +/- 8.6 months; 21% overweight and 21% obese children) participated (218 in the control group and 200 in the intervention group). At 12 months, BMI percentile decreased by 0.33 percentile in the intervention group, compared with a mean increase of 8.75 percentile in the control group (P < .001). In participants with an initial BMI <85th percentile, BMI percentile did not change over time in the intervention group but increased in the control group (from the 48th +/- 21 to 63th +/- 29 percentile; P < .01). At 12 months, consumption of juice and milk were decreased in the intervention group (P < .001). Conclusion A brief, evidence-based intervention targeting 4 behaviors, coupled with a written contract and telephone follow-up, decreased the rate of increase in BMI percentile in young children, especially in normal weight children.