Informing Policies to Address Childhood Obesity: A Systems Approach

项目总结 近35%的学龄儿童超重，19%的学龄儿童肥胖。这是一个近五倍的 自20世纪60年代以来，肥胖儿童的比例有所增加。政策制定者意识到童年 肥胖问题，但开发有效的肥胖预防干预措施一直是具有挑战性的。其中一个原因 是因为儿童体重增加受到一系列复杂因素的影响。这项研究的重点是 影响肥胖的商业环境、建筑环境和学校环境的属性 儿童和青少年。该项目涉及强大的准实验方法，并遵循一个系统 方法的总体目标是生成可操作的、与政策相关的信息，可用于 预防儿童肥胖。具体地说，该项目评估了获得健康饮食、接触 不健康的食物环境，可供剧烈运动的安全区域，以及其他特征 关于儿童肥胖的社区。这项研究利用了一组独特的人口数据。 阿肯色州公立学校的孩子们。自2004年以来，阿肯色州的公立学校一直在测量身体质量指数 放映。这使得调查人员能够跟踪儿童从进入幼儿园起的体重状况 一直到10年级。学童接近不同类型的食品店、餐馆、操场 以及社区的其他特征正在被仔细地衡量，以便确定是否以及如何 很多社区特征都会影响肥胖。该项目的成果将帮助政策制定者更好地 对那些特别容易肥胖的儿童进行干预，并将帮助社区领导人 了解社区的哪些特定因素会使儿童面临更大的风险。最后，该项目是 与社区发展项目的努力密切协调，以促进协调努力 在有类似风险的社区之间，从而促进创建以健康为重点的社区系统 在教育工作者和卫生专业人员中。

PROJECT SUMMARY Nearly 35 percent of school-aged children are overweight and 19 percent are obese. This is a nearly five-fold increase in the percentage of obese children since the 1960s. Policy makers are aware of the childhood obesity problem, but developing effective obesity prevention interventions has been challenging. One reason is because weight gain among children is influenced by a complexity of factors. The focus of this study is on attributes of the commercial environment, built environment, and school environment that affect obesity among children and adolescents. The project involves strong quasi-experimental methods and follows a systems approach with the overall objective of generating actionable, policy-relevant information that can be used to prevent childhood obesity. Specifically, the project assesses the effect of access to a healthy diet, exposure to unhealthy food environments, availability of safe areas for vigorous play, and other characteristics of neighborhoods on childhood obesity. The study takes advantage of a unique dataset on the population of Arkansas public schoolchildren. Since 2004, public schools in Arkansas have been taking body mass index screenings. This allows investigators to track childhood weight status from the time children enter kindergarten through 10th grade. The proximity of schoolchildren to different types of food stores, restaurants, playgrounds and other features of the community are being carefully measured in order to determine whether and how much neighborhood characteristics affect obesity. Outcomes of the project will help policymakers better target interventions to those children that are especially at risk for obesity and will help community leaders understand what specific elements of neighborhoods place children at greater risk. Finally, the project is coordinated closely with the Community Development efforts of the project to facilitate coordination of efforts among communities with similar risks and thereby foster the creation of health-focused community systems among educators and health professionals.