260187 Predictors for persistent overweight, deteriorated weight, and improved weight status during 18 months in a school-based longitudinal cohort

Tuesday, October 30, 2012 : 3:15 PM - 3:30 PM

Dong-Chul Seo, PhD , Applied Health Science, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
Mindy King, PhD , Indiana Institute on Disability and Community, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
Nayoung Kim, MA , Department of Applied Health Science, Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington, Bloomington, IN
Danielle Neukam, MPH , Indiana Institute on Disability and Community, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
Rhonda Meade, MS , Welborn Baptist Foundation, Inc., Evansville, IN
Background: The HEROES (Healthy, Energetic, Ready, Outstanding, Enthusiastic Schools) Initiative is a school-based childhood obesity prevention program to help schools in Southern Indiana and Illinois change their culture by implementing the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) Coordinated School Health Model (CSHM).

Purpose: To examine predictors for persistent overweight/obesity, deteriorated weight (e.g., normal to overweight), and improved weight (e.g., overweight to normal) status among students (N = 5309, 11 schools) who participated in the HEROES Initiative from Fall 2009 to Spring 2011.

Significance: This study illustrates the characteristics of students who are responsive or nonresponsive to the CSHM-based obesity intervention program. Method: Weight and height of students were measured at baseline, 6 months, 12 months, and 18 months. CDC growth chart was used to group students into different weight categories. Then, students were further grouped into persistent overweight/obesity, deteriorated weight, or improved weight category. SAS 9.2 was employed to examine predictors for each of these three categories using logistic regression, accounting for clustering effects within the same school and correlated repeated measures.

Results: Drinking more soda, more screen time, lower socio-economic status (SES), and attending urban schools increased the odds of belonging to persistent overweight/obesity (30.6%) and deteriorated weight (6.9%) categories compared to persistent non-overweight group. SES at both school-level and individual-level and engaging in team sports significantly predicted weight improvement of students (6.2%).

Conclusion: While SES is an important determinant of weight category change, students' screen time, soda consumption, and team sports participation are also important determinants.

Learning Areas:
Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs

Learning Objectives:
1. Describe the HEROES (Healthy, Energetic, Ready, Outstanding, Enthusiastic Schools) Initiative which is a Coordinated School Health Model (CSHM) based obesity prevention program. 2. Identify determinants of weight category changes among school children who participated in the HEROES Initiative.

Keywords: Obesity, Adolescent Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been principal investigator or co-investigator of multiple federally or state funded obesity prevention grants. I am widely published in peer reviewed journals. My research is focused on policy and socio-ecology in obesity and addictive/risky behavior. I serve on Editorial Board, World Journal of Methodology; Section Editor, Californian Journal of Health Promotion; Chair, Research Review Committee, American Academy of Health Behavior; Grant Reviewer, NSF, FAMRI,Florida Department of Health Tobacco Prevention and Control.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 4347.0: School Interventions for Overweight and Obese Youth