Interventions for Preventing Obesity in Children and Adolescents

A special issue of Healthcare (ISSN 2227-9032). This special issue belongs to the section "School Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 June 2025 | Viewed by 2634

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Exercise Science Department, California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, CA 93065, USA
Interests: prevention and treatment of obesity and metabolic disorders in youth; type 2 diabetes prevention in Latino and African American youth; reduction in anxiety and depression in at-risk youth; tracking of physical activity and sedentary behavior; reduction in health disparities; physical activity and sedentary behavior interventions

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The Healthcare welcomes submissions for a Special Issue entitled “Interventions for Preventing Obesity in Children and Adolescents”. Healthcare is an international, scientific, peer-reviewed, open access journal on health care systems, industry, technology, policy, and regulation. Healthcare’s current impact factor is 2.8. More details can be found at https://www.mdpi.com/journal/healthcare.

The global childhood obesity epidemic has led to an increased awareness of low physical activity as a major public health concern. Behaviors that contribute to obesity, including the consumption of highly energy dense foods, low physical activity and high levels of sedentary behaviors, appear to be characteristic of today’s youth.  There is a plethora of evidence to suggest that physical activity contributes significantly to reducing obesity along with associated health. Furthermore, health behaviors and physical activity can be tracked; therefore, it is prudent to invest our resources in preventing adverse health from occurring in our young population. This has led to the suggestion that interventions to promote physical activity in children might be an appropriate, population-based approach to prevent obesity and related chronic diseases. This Special Issue will focus on highlighting physical activity interventions aimed at the prevention of obesity in children and adolescents. We are particularly interested in, for instance, interventions conducted in at-risk, low-income, or minority youth and adolescents.

Thank you for considering the Healthcare as a scholarly outlet for disseminating your academic work.

Dr. Louise A. Kelly
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • physical activity
  • sedentary behavior
  • obesity
  • overweight
  • socio economic status
  • accelerometry
  • fundamental movement skills
  • at-risk youth
  • minority youth

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 325 KiB  
Article
Association of Overweight and Obesity with Impaired Executive Functioning in Mexican Adolescents: The Importance of Inhibitory Control
by Yatzeny Guadalupe Ruiz-Molina, Josué Herrera-Ávila, Josué Vidal Espinosa-Juárez, Héctor Armando Esquinca-Avilés, Juan Gabriel Tejas-Juárez, Elena Flores-Guillén, Luis Alberto Morales-Martínez, Alfredo Briones-Aranda, Betsabé Jiménez-Ceballos, José Alfredo Sierra-Ramírez and Refugio Cruz-Trujillo
Healthcare 2024, 12(14), 1368; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare12141368 - 9 Jul 2024
Viewed by 926
Abstract
Overweight and obesity are major public health issues worldwide, including in Mexico, particularly among adolescents. This study aimed to analyze the associations between nutritional status and impaired executive function (EF) in Mexican adolescents. A case–control study was conducted with 98 male and female [...] Read more.
Overweight and obesity are major public health issues worldwide, including in Mexico, particularly among adolescents. This study aimed to analyze the associations between nutritional status and impaired executive function (EF) in Mexican adolescents. A case–control study was conducted with 98 male and female adolescents, categorized into normal weight and overweight/obese groups based on body mass index. EF was assessed using the BANFE-2 test. The prevalence of overweight and obesity was 54.3%. The EF assessment revealed that 82.45% of the overweight/obese group exhibited mild-to-severe impairment, compared to only 36.58% in the normal weight group (X2 = 21.69, p < 0.0001). In the inhibitory control assessment, adolescents with overweight and obesity performed worse than their normal-weight counterparts. Specifically, females with overweight/obesity scored lower than females with normal weight on the risk–benefit processing test. The risk of severe EF impairment significantly increased with the presence of overweight/obesity (OR = 7.8, p < 0.0001). These findings indicate that EF, particularly inhibitory control and risk–benefit processing, is impaired in adolescents with overweight or obesity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Interventions for Preventing Obesity in Children and Adolescents)
14 pages, 591 KiB  
Article
Risk Factors for Overweight and Obesity in Later School-Aged Children: Focus on Lifestyle Behaviours and Psychosocial Characteristics
by Yong-Sook Eo and Myo-Sung Kim
Healthcare 2024, 12(9), 912; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare12090912 - 27 Apr 2024
Viewed by 1142
Abstract
The study analysed the 12th wave (2019) of data from the Panel Study on Korean Children conducted by the Korea Institute of Child Care and Education. A total of 1174 children were selected as the subjects of the study. The results concerning the [...] Read more.
The study analysed the 12th wave (2019) of data from the Panel Study on Korean Children conducted by the Korea Institute of Child Care and Education. A total of 1174 children were selected as the subjects of the study. The results concerning the identifying factors influencing overweight and obesity in later school-aged children revealed that when compared to boys, girls were 1.66 times more likely to be overweight or obese. Moreover, for every one-hour increase in media usage time, the likelihood of being overweight or obese increased by 1.23 times, and for every one-point increase in body dissatisfaction, the probability of being overweight or obese increased by 2.07 times. However, among personality traits, neuroticism was associated with a 0.96 times lower likelihood of being overweight or obese. These findings underscore the significance of considering not only lifestyle factors but also psychosocial characteristics such as body dissatisfaction and neuroticism as predictive factors for overweight and obesity in later school-aged children, providing a basis for intervention. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Interventions for Preventing Obesity in Children and Adolescents)
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