Trial reportTrials2014
A primary-school-based study to reduce the prevalence of childhood obesity--the EdAl (Educació en Alimentació) study: a randomized controlled trial.
Trial report in Trials, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 33 papers, 12 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
33 citing papers in PubMed, 12 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 61 citations in OpenAlex.
- Health and Nutrition Interventions to Prevent Childhood Overweight and Obesity in Mexico and Latin America: A Systematic Review.Nutrients · 2025Pooled it
- Which school-based interventions work better to combat obesity in children? A network meta-analysis.Systematic reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Interventions for Childhood Central Obesity: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.JAMA network open · 2025Pooled it
- Waist circumference as a parameter in school-based interventions to prevent overweight and obesity - a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC public health · 2024Pooled it
- Comparative effectiveness of school-based obesity prevention programs for children and adolescents: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2024Pooled it
- The long-term effects of primary school-based obesity prevention interventions in children: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Pediatric obesity · 2023Pooled it
- Systematic Review of Setting-Based Interventions for Preventing Childhood Obesity.BioMed research international · 2021Pooled it
- A developmental cascade perspective of paediatric obesity: A systematic review of preventive interventions from infancy through late adolescence.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2020Pooled it
- A systematic review and meta-analysis of the overall effects of school-based obesity prevention interventions and effect differences by intervention components.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2019Pooled it
- Interventions for preventing obesity in children.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2019Pooled it
- Effectiveness of social marketing strategies to reduce youth obesity in European school-based interventions: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Nutrition reviews · 2016Pooled it
- The impact of long-term school-based physical activity interventions on body mass index of primary school children - a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.BMC public health · 2016Pooled it
- Nutrition education improves knowledge and BMI-for-age in Ghanaian school-aged children.African health sciences · 2021Trial
- A workplace intervention to reduce alcohol and drug consumption: a nonrandomized single-group study.BMC public health · 2018Trial
- Follow-up of a healthy lifestyle education program (the EdAl study): four years after cessation of randomized controlled trial intervention.BMC public health · 2018Trial
- Trial
- [Effectiveness of interventions in schools for the prevention and reduction of childhood obesity and overweight: A systematic review and meta-analysis].Atencion primaria · 2026Article
- Integrating Mediterranean Diet Education and Sustainability in Primary Schools: A Two-Season Community-Based Intervention in Portugal.Nutrients · 2026Article
- Breaking the obesity-cancer link: assessing European school-based and complementary obesity-prevention strategies and their implementation obstacles.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- A Scoping Review of Tailoring in Pediatric Obesity Interventions.Childhood obesity (Print) · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundObesity is one of the main determinants of avoidable disease burden.To implement a program by university students acting as "health promoting agents" (HPAs) and to evaluate the effects on obesity prevalence of the primary-school-based program that promotes healthy lifestyle, including dietary and physical activity recommendations over 28 months.
methodsTwo school clusters were randomly assigned to intervention (24 schools, 1,222 pupils) or control (14 schools, 717 pupils); 78% of pupils were Western European. Mean age (±SD) was 8.4±0.6 years (49.9% females) at baseline. Generalized linear mixed models were used to analyze differences in primary outcome between both groups. Data collected included body mass index (BMI) every year. Dietary habits and lifestyle questionnaires were filled in by the parents at baseline and at the end of the study. The interventions focused on eight lifestyle topics covered in 12 activities (1 hour/activity/session) implemented by HPAs over 3 school academic years.
resultsAt 28 months, obesity prevalence in boys was decreased -2.36% in the intervention group (from 9.59% to 7.23%) and increased 2.03% (from 7.40% to 9.43%) in the control group; the difference was 4.39% (95% CI 3.48 to 5.30; P=0.01). The boys in the intervention group had an effective reduction of -0.24 units in the change of BMI z-score (from 0.01 to -0.04), compared to control (from -0.10 to 0.09); 5.1% more intervention pupils undertook physical activity>5 hours/week than control pupils (P=0.02).Fish consumption was a protector (odds ratio 0.39; 95% CI 0.23 to 0.67) while "fast-food" consumption was a risk factor for childhood obesity (odds ratio: 2.27; 95% CI 1.08 to 4.77).
conclusionsOur school-based program, conducted by HPA students, successfully reduced childhood obesity prevalence in boys.
trial registrationInternational Standard Randomized Controlled Trial Number: ISRCTN29247645.
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