Prevention of Obesity in Elementary and Nursery School Children

Abstract In order to control obesity in children a longitudinal study has been carried out, basedon a continuous and qualified health education programme. A total of 1321 children of three different schools have been considered:-MA school: Multi-media Action school; WA school: Written Action school; C school: Control school. At time 0, the distribution of the population in height-weight classes was determined through the modified Body Mass Index. At that time, a mean of 11·7% obese, 24·4% overweight and 19·7% underweight children was noted. After one year of intervention, the situation in the three schools was as follows:-MA school: obese decrease=12·2%; overweight decrease=12·1%; WA school and C school: no significant change in comparison with time 0. The results obtained prove the efficacy of the multi-media action and, on the other hand, call for a more detailed study as regards the school where neither a direct intervention nor audiovisual aids have been used.