Implementing Successful Early Childhood Obesity Prevention Interventions: the Need for Family-Based Effectiveness-Implementation Hybrid Studies

During the past 10 years, children younger than age 5 years have experienced significant increases in obesity, with rates disproportionately influencing children in families with low income. 1 Skinner A.C. Ravanbakht S.N. Skelton J.A. Perrin E.M. Armstrong S.C. Prevalence of obesity and severe obesity in US children, 1999-2016. Pediatrics. 2018; 141e20173459https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2018-1916 Crossref Scopus (17) Google Scholar ,2 Pan L. Freedman D.S. Sharma A.J. et al. Trends in obesity among participants aged 2-4 years in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children - United States, 2000-2014. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2016; 65: 1256-1260https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6545a2 Crossref PubMed Scopus (83) Google Scholar Obesity increases the risk for cardiovascular disease, sleep disorders, asthma, type 2 diabetes, developmental concerns, and psychological illnesses. 3 Brown T. Moore T.H. Hooper L. et al. Interventions for preventing obesity in children. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2019; 7: CD001871https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD001871.pub4 Crossref PubMed Scopus (397) Google Scholar , 4 Kansra A.R. Lakkunarajah S. Jay M.S. Childhood and adolescent obesity: a review. Front Pediatr. 2020; 8581461https://doi.org/10.3389/fped.2020.581461 Crossref PubMed Scopus (135) Google Scholar , 5 Deal B.J. Huffman M.D. Binns H. Stone N.J. Perspective: childhood obesity requires new strategies for prevention. Adv Nutr. 2020; 11: 1071-1078https://doi.org/10.1093/advances/nmaa040 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (36) Google Scholar It is challenging to reverse obesity, highlighting the importance of preventing childhood obesity. 3 Brown T. Moore T.H. Hooper L. et al. Interventions for preventing obesity in children. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2019; 7: CD001871https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD001871.pub4 Crossref PubMed Scopus (397) Google Scholar J. Zeldman is a certified health education specialist and a graduate research assistant, and A. R. Mobley is an associate professor and the graduate coordinator, Department of Health Education and Behavior, and R. G. Salloum is an associate professor and the director, CTSI Learning Health System, Department of Health Outcomes and Biomedical Informatics, University of Florida, Gainesville.