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Purpose: Pediatric obesity disproportionately impacts Hispanic or Latino/a adolescents. Culturally appropriate family-based behavioral initiatives to improve weight status are warranted. The purpose of this research was to determine prevalence rates and identify protective factors associated with having overweight/obesity (body mass index ≥ 85th percentile) to inform Hispanic or Latino/a-targeted behavioral intervention development. Design: Secondary data analyses of a population-based statewide survey. Setting: Minnesota public high schools. Participants: Male (n = 2,644) and female (n = 2,798) Hispanic or Latino/a 9th and 11th graders (N = 5,442). Measures: Obesity-related behaviors (meeting fruit and vegetable [F&V] and physical activity [PA] recommendations), family caring, family country/region of origin, and weight status. Analysis: Stepwise logistic regression models (F&V, PA), stratified by biological sex, were used to identify protective factors of overweight/obesity. Results: The overall prevalence of meeting F&V and PA recommendations was 11.0% and 11.8%, respectively. Meeting F&V recommendations was not protective against overweight/obesity in either sex. Yet, males and females who met PA recommendations had significantly lower odds of having overweight/obesity (p <.05). In F&V and PA models, family caring was protective against overweight/obesity in females (p <.05), and family country/region of origin was protective against overweight/obesity in both sexes (p <.05). Conclusion: Findings illustrate a need for obesity prevention initiatives for Hispanic or Latino/a youth. More research is needed to understand the protective nature of family caring and country/region of origin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To test the role of financial incentives to motivate engagement in diabetes prevention programs (DPPs).Design: Minnesota, Montana, and New York randomized 3 different approaches to providing incentives: incentivizing class attendance and weight loss (all states), class attendance only (NY), and weight loss only (NY). We used New York to test how different approaches to providing incentives influence DPP completion and attendance.Setting: Health-care facilities and local young men's Christian association.Participants: Eight hundred thirty one Medicaid enrollees in Minnesota, 204 in Montana, and 560 in New York.Intervention Measure: Impact of the financial incentives on DPP program completion rates. We measured completion of DPP classes in 2 ways: completing 9 or more or 16 or more DPP classes.Analysis: Multivariate logistic model to compare completion of DPP classes between participants randomized into receiving financial incentives and controls.Results: Receipt of incentives was associated with higher odds at attending 9 or more classes (odds ratio [OR]: 2.2; P < .01) in Minnesota, Montana (OR: 2.2; P < .05), and New York (OR: 1.9; P < .01) as well as attending 16 or more classes in Minnesota (OR: 3.1; P < .01), Montana (OR: 2.1; P < .01), and New York (OR: 2.9; P < .01). In New York, individuals paid to attend classes attended more classes than individuals paid based on results only.Conclusion: Among Medicaid beneficiaries, financial incentives improve DPP class attendance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Objective In this research study, we examine how both overweight and nonoverweight adolescent girls and boys fared from 1999 to 2010 in terms of disordered eating behaviors and psychosocial well-being. Method A repeated cross-sectional design was used. Participants were recruited from public schools in 1999 ( n = 3072, mean age = 14.6 ± 1.8) and 2010 ( n = 2793, mean age = 14.4 ± 2.0). Secular trends were examined by weight status and gender using inverse probability weighting to control for changes in socio-demographics. Results In general, the prevalence of disordered eating behaviors and markers of psychosocial well-being among overweight girls and boys remained the same from 1999 to 2010. In contrast, among nonoverweight girls, chronic dieting, unhealthy weight control behaviors, and extreme weight control behaviors decreased, and body satisfaction improved during this time period. Further, among non-overweight boys, the prevalence of unhealthy and extreme weight control behaviors decreased, as did mean depression scores. Discussion Overall, findings indicate a strong need to ensure that messages about the dangers of disordered eating behaviors are reaching overweight youth. Obesity prevention interventions should not overlook the comorbid nature of obesity, disordered eating and poor psychosocial health; prevention programming should address shared risk factors, including dieting, media use, body dissatisfaction, and weight-related teasing. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, (Int J Eat Disord 2015; 48:323-327) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Objective: To examine secular trends from 1999 to 2010 in weight status and weight-related attitudes and behaviors among adolescents. Methods: A repeated cross-sectional design was used. Participants were from Minneapolis/St. Paul middle schools and high schools and included 3072 adolescents in 1999 (mean age14.6±1.8) and 2793 adolescents in 2010 (mean age14.4±2.0). Trends in weight-related variables were examined using inverse probability weighting to control for changes in socio-demographics over time. Results: The prevalence of obesity among boys increased by 7.8% from 1999 to 2010, with large ethnic/racial disparities. In black boys the prevalence of obesity increased from 14.4% to 21.5% and among Hispanic boys, obesity prevalence increased from 19.7% to 33.6%. Trends were more positive among girls: weight status did not significantly increase, perceptions of overweight status were more accurate, the use of healthy weight control behaviors remained high, dieting decreased by 6.7%, unhealthy weight control behaviors decreased by 8.2% and extreme weight control behaviors decreased by 4.5%. Conclusions: Trends indicate a need to intensify efforts to prevent obesity and other weight-related problems, particularly for boys from ethnic/racial minorities. The decreases in unhealthy weight control behaviors among girls are encouraging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on a study which aims to develop a decision rule for referral to a weight-loss program on the basis of the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and self-rated overall health. Researchers conducted a patient satisfaction survey of family medicine patients treated in Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, to determine whether BMI exhibits an inverse and independent relationship with overall self-rated health in primary care patients. They concluded that quality improvement programs should monitor whether obesity is being addressed in clinical settings.

Abstract: Background: This study examined 5-year longitudinal and secular trends in weight status and the use of healthy and unhealthy weight control behaviors in adolescents. Methods: Project EAT-II followed 2516 adolescents from Minnesota longitudinally from 1999 to 2004. The population included two cohorts allowing for the observation of transitions from early to middle adolescence (junior high school to high school) and from middle to late adolescence (high school to post-high school). Results: The prevalence of overweight (females: 28.7%; males: 28.0%) was high in early adolescence and remained high throughout adolescence. In females, between early and middle adolescence, there were steep longitudinal increases in the use of unhealthy weight control behaviors (48.6% to 58.8%, P = 0.001) and extreme weight control behaviors (9.4% to 17.9%, P < 0.001), and between middle and late adolescence, extreme weight control behaviors increased from 14.5% to 23.9% (P < 0.001). In males, extreme weight control behaviors doubled from middle to late adolescence (3.4% to 6.3%, P = 0.023). Use of diet pills doubled from 7.5% to 14.2% from 1999 to 2004 (P = 0.004) in high school females. One fifth (19.9%) of females in late adolescence reported taking diet pills. Conclusions: Overweight status and unhealthy weight control behaviors in adolescents are major public health concerns that warrant interventions addressing both problems. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]