Abstract
Pediatric overweight and obesity continues to be a major public health concern. Once established it is difficult to treat; therefore well-designed and evaluated prevention interventions are vitally important. There is considerable evidence to suggest that obesity prevention initiatives can change children's behaviours and weight status over the short- or medium-term; however, there is far less evidence on which to judge the impact over the longer term. In response to the rise in short- and medium-term obesity prevention studies for children and adolescents over recent years, the Prevention Stream of the Australasian Child and Adolescent Obesity Research Network highlight five points as to why the dearth of obesity prevention studies with long-term follow-up should be urgently addressed. Furthermore, recommendations to strengthen the evidence base and outline key implications for research design in this area and the support required for long-term follow-up studies are detailed.
Acknowledgements
The authors are members of the Australasian Child and Adolescent Obesity Research Network which is funded in part by a grant from Queensland Health and the Foundation for Children. KH is supported by a National Heart Foundation of Australia Career Development Award. KC is supported by a Victorian Health Promotion Public Health Research Fellowship.
Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.