School-Based Intervention to Prevent Metabolic Syndrome

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): More than 25% of children are at risk of or overweight and this increases metabolic risk factors for type 2 diabetes; ethnic minority children are at even higher risk for being overweight and developing type 2 diabetes. Prevention of metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes should begin by prevention of overweight in childhood. We will develop a school-based multi-component intervention program to promote healthy lifestyles in young children in order to prevent overweight and metabolic syndrome. The intervention will promote healthful eating and physical activity through social marketing, a health education curriculum, modification of the school environment, and family programming at the school so that parents can reinforce behavioral changes and model these change in the home environment. Focus groups will first be conducted at one school to refine the intervention for acceptability and cultural appropriateness and then the intervention approach and materials will be pre-tested in additional focus groups. A pilot study will then be conducted in order to test the hypothesis that the school-based intervention for children in grades K-1 will reduce their risk for overweight and metabolic syndrome. We will recruit 60 children from each of two additional schools and randomize one school to receive the 12 month intervention and the other school to receive a control condition consisting of children's health risk feedback and educational materials for parents. Primary outcomes are measures of overweight and metabolic risk, including estimates of insulin resistance. Secondary outcomes include measures of dietary intake, physical activity, blood pressure, and blood lipids. Children will be assessed at baseline and after six and 12 months of the intervention. The results from this study will contribute new knowledge concerning school-based interventions to improve health behaviors so that overweight and metabolic syndrome can be prevented in ethnic minority children. These findings will provide the preliminary feasibility and efficacy data needed for the development and submission of a subsequent R18 application. Approximately 30% of ethnic minority children are overweight and at increased risk for developing metabolic syndrome and eventually type 2 diabetes. Prevention of metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes should begin by prevention of overweight in childhood. We will develop and test the efficacy of a school-based multi- component intervention program to promote healthy lifestyles in young ethnic minority children in order to prevent overweight and metabolic syndrome.