A community-based intervention increases physical activity and reduces obesity in school-age children in North Carolina.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Community-based interventions are promising approaches to obesity prevention,
but few studies have prospectively evaluated them. The aim of this study was to evaluate
a natural experiment—a community intervention designed to promote active living and
decrease obesity within a small southern town. METHODS: In 2011, community leaders
implemented the Mebane on the Move intervention—a community-wide effort to promote
physical activity (PA) and decrease obesity among residents of Mebane, North Carolina.
We measured child PA and BMI before and after the intervention, using a nearby town
not implementing an intervention as the comparison. In total, we assessed 64 children
from Mebane and 40 from the comparison community 6 months before, as well as 34 and
18 children 6 months after the intervention. We assessed PA with accelerometers worn
for 7 days and calculated BMI z-scores using children's height and weight. We conducted
multivariable linear regressions examining pre- to postintervention change in minutes
of PA and BMI z-score, adjusting for confounders. RESULTS: At follow-up, children
in Mebane modestly increased their moderate-to-vigorous PA (1.3 minutes per hour;
95% confidence interval (CI): 0.2, 2.3; p=0.03) and vigorous activity (0.8 minutes
per hour; 95% CI: 0.1, 1.5; p=0.04) more than comparison children. In intervention
children, BMI z-scores decreased 0.5 units (kg/m(2); 95% CI: -0.9, -0.02; p=0.045),
compared to children in the comparison community. CONCLUSIONS: We observed positive
effects on PA level and weight status of children in Mebane, despite high rates of
attrition, suggesting that the community-based intervention may have been successful.
Type
Journal articleSubject
Body Mass IndexChild
Community Health Services
Exercise
Female
Follow-Up Studies
Health Behavior
Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
Health Promotion
Humans
Male
North Carolina
Pediatric Obesity
Weight Loss
Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/11436Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1089/chi.2014.0130Publication Info
Benjamin Neelon, SE; Bennett, Gary G; Evenson, KR; Martinie, A; Namenek Brouwer, RJ;
Neelon, Brian Hugh; & Østbye, Truls (2015). A community-based intervention increases physical activity and reduces obesity in
school-age children in North Carolina. Child Obes, 11(3). pp. 297-303. 10.1089/chi.2014.0130. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/11436.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
Collections
More Info
Show full item recordScholars@Duke
Gary G. Bennett
Bishop-MacDermott Family Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience
Please note that this is not our primary website.To learn more about Dr. Bennett,
please visit: drgarybennett.comTo learn more about Dr. Bennett's work with Duke Digital
Health, please visit: dukedigitalhealth.org
Gary G. Bennett is the Bishop-MacDermott Family Professor of Psychology & Neuroscience,
Global Health, and Medicine at Duke Univ
Truls Ostbye
Professor of Family Medicine and Community Health
Chronic disease epidemiology; obesity; health services research; population health;
public health; social medicine; health information systems; health surveys; programme
evaluation; clinical trials; aging; nutrition; dementia; Global Health
Alphabetical list of authors with Scholars@Duke profiles.

Articles written by Duke faculty are made available through the campus open access policy. For more information see: Duke Open Access Policy
Rights for Collection: Scholarly Articles