Improving weight status in childhood: results from the eat well be activecommunity programs

The eat well be activeCommunity Programs (ewba) aimed to prevent obesity among children aged 0–18 years in two Australian communities from 2006 to 2010. ewbawas a multi-strategy intervention in children’s settings. The evaluation was quasi-experimental, including a before and after survey with intervention (INT) and non-randomised comparison (COMP) communities. Outcome measures included BMI-zscore (zBMI) and overweight/obesity prevalence in children aged 4–5 years; and zBMI, waist circumference (WC) z-score and overweight/obesity prevalence in children aged10–12 years. After 3 years, among the 4–5 years old, mean zBMI was significantly lower in both INT (−0.20, p< 0.05) and COMP (−0.15, p< 0.05), however, changes were not significantly different between INT and COMP. There was a larger reduction in overweight/obesity prevalence in INT (−6.3 %) compared to COMP (−3.7 %) (p< 0.05, χ2test). In the 10–12 years old, mean zBMI did not change significantly in INT or COMP. There was a significant reduction in WC z-score in INT (−0.17, p< 0.05) but not in COMP (−0.10, p= NS), although not significantly different between INT and COMP (p= 0.092). These findings suggest that the ewbacommunity intervention had a moderate impact, showing modest improvements in weight status at 3-year follow-up.