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Effect of educational interventions on health in childhood: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

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OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to summarize the findings of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) investigating any potential effects of educational interventions on health in childhood. STUDY DESIGN Meta-analysis.… Click to show full abstract

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to summarize the findings of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) investigating any potential effects of educational interventions on health in childhood. STUDY DESIGN Meta-analysis. METHODS PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library databases were searched to identify all RCTs that fit our analysis through May 2016. Weighted mean difference (WMD) was used to measure the effect of educational interventions in childhood by using a random effects model. RESULTS Thirty RCTs reporting data on 35,296 children were included in the meta-analysis. The summary WMD indicated that children who received educational interventions had lower levels of body mass index (BMI) (WMD: -0.15; 95% CI: -0.24 to -0.05; P = 0.003), BMI z-score (WMD: -0.03; 95% CI: -0.05 to -0.02; P < 0.001), waist circumference (WMD: -0.97; 95% CI: -1.95 to -0.00; P = 0.050), triceps skinfold (WMD: -1.39; 95% CI: -2.41 to -0.37; P = 0.008), systolic blood pressure (WMD: -1.13; 95% CI: -2.20 to -0.07; P = 0.037), total cholesterol (WMD: -4.04; 95% CI: -7.18 to -0.90; P = 0.012), and triglyceride (WMD: -2.62; 95% CI: -4.33 to -0.90; P = 0.003). However, educational interventions were found to have little or no significant impact on the waist-to-hip ratio, diastolic blood pressure, high-density lipoprotein, and low-density lipoprotein. CONCLUSIONS The study findings prove the positive effects of educational interventions on BMI, BMI z-score, waist circumference, triceps skinfold, systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, and triglyceride.

Keywords: childhood; analysis; health; educational interventions; meta analysis

Journal Title: Public health
Year Published: 2018

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