Phone-Based Interventions to Control Obesity in Children Under Six Years of Age: A Systematic Review on Features and Effects

Abstract

Context: This systematic review was conducted to investigate the role of phones (telephone and mobile phone) in interventions designed to control obesity in children under age six and to determine the features and effects of these interventions. Evidence Acquisition: A systematic search was conducted of the electronic databases (until November 2016). Randomized controlled trials that assessed the effects of phone-based interventions to control obesity in children under age six were included. Results: Of the 1920 papers accessed, 38 were relevant based on title and abstract. After review of the full texts, five studies were deemed eligible for inclusion. The results showed that in two studies phone-based interventions succeeded in improving the children's weight and BMI while in three other studies they were not. Among the functionalities of a telephone and mobile phone (e.g. text messaging and smartphone applications), only phone calls were used to communicate with participants. Only one of the included studies had used the phone as its main intervention, in the other studies the phone was used as part of a multicomponent intervention. Most of the included studies used phone calls to encourage and remind the participants about their children's nutritional status and physical activity. Conclusions: Although the numerous functions of phones can be used independently or in combination with other interventions for controlling obesity, so far, only the phone call function has been used for children under age six. Moreover, there is still no strong evidence on their positive effects on obesity control in children under age six.

E‐&mHealth interventions targeting nutrition, physical activity, sedentary behavior, and/or obesity among children: A scoping review of systematic reviews and meta‐analyses

“…The age range of included reviews varied, with the most frequent inclusion being all ages below 19 years (9/45) 54,59–66 and adolescents (10–18 years of age, 10/45) 56,57,67–74 . Only one review examined e‐&mHealth interventions below the age of 6 years 75 . Four reviews did not specify an age range for inclusion criteria, only “children and adolescents,” 76–79 or in one instance “students attending school or university,” which included mean ages of included studies ranging from 12 to 21 years 78 .…”

“…The included reviews comprised a range of study designs including single‐group pre–post studies (7/45), quasi‐experiment studies (25/45), and RCTs (42/45), with 12 reviews including only RCTs 17,54–56,60,62,75,76,82–84,88 . Three studies did not provide a clear inclusion criteria for study designs 79,81,94 .…”

“…Three studies did not provide a clear inclusion criteria for study designs 79,81,94 . Eight reviews required interventions to have a particular control group, 54–56,58,65,72,75,95 with all of these reviews allowing usual care, wait list, or no intervention controls. Three reviews allowed another type of e‐&mHealth intervention or a non‐e‐&mHealth intervention as a comparator 55,56,95 …”

“…Many systematic reviews sought a broad definition of e‐&mHealth and allowed a wide range of child ages to be included. e‐&mHealth modalities have evolved to target school age and younger children (<12 years) and their parents, 97 though only one systematic review was confined to a younger age range (<6 years) 75 and one systematic review included only e‐&mHealth modalities targeting the parent 60 . Along with targeting a specific age range, there were few studies that focused on subgroups, including those with overweight or obesity 59,61,74,83 .…”