ArticleAmerican journal of preventive medicine2015
Cost Effectiveness of Childhood Obesity Interventions: Evidence and Methods for CHOICES.
Article in American journal of preventive medicine, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 68 papers, 11 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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
68 citing papers in PubMed, 11 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 145 citations in OpenAlex.
- Systematic review on community-based interventions targeting prevention of overweight and obesity in children and adolescents.Frontiers in public health · 2025Pooled it
- Modelling health and economic impact of nutrition interventions: a systematic review.European journal of clinical nutrition · 2023Pooled it
- Primary prevention programs for childhood obesity: are they cost-effective?Italian journal of pediatrics · 2023Pooled it
- Impact of soda tax on beverage price, sale, purchase, and consumption in the US: a systematic review and meta-analysis of natural experiments.Frontiers in public health · 2023Pooled it
- The Cost Effectiveness of Taxation of Sugary Foods and Beverages: A Systematic Review of Economic Evaluations.Applied health economics and health policy · 2022Pooled it
- Sugar sweetened beverages attributable disease burden and the potential impact of policy interventions: a systematic review of epidemiological and decision models.BMC public health · 2021Pooled it
- Complex Systems Approaches to Diet: A Systematic Review.American journal of preventive medicine · 2019Pooled it
- A Systematic Review of Methods, Study Quality, and Results of Economic Evaluation for Childhood and Adolescent Obesity Intervention.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2019Pooled it
- Return on investment of public health interventions: a systematic review.Journal of epidemiology and community health · 2017Pooled it
- Policy lessons from health taxes: a systematic review of empirical studies.BMC public health · 2017Pooled it
- Using cost-effectiveness analysis to prioritize policy and programmatic approaches to physical activity promotion and obesity prevention in childhood.Preventive medicine · 2017Pooled it
- Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of an Intensive Lifestyle Intervention Versus Usual Care for Latino Youth With Prediabetes.Pediatric obesity · 2025Trial
- Cost-effectiveness of reducing children's sedentary time and increasing physical activity at school: the Transform-Us! intervention.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2024Trial
- Cost-Effectiveness and Long-Term Savings of the Bright Bodies Intervention for Childhood Obesity.Value in health : the journal of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research · 2023Trial
- Cost-effectiveness of a motivational interviewing obesity intervention versus usual care in pediatric primary care offices.Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.) · 2022Trial
- Trial
- Extreme Preterm Infant Rates of Overweight and Obesity at School Age in the SUPPORT Neuroimaging and Neurodevelopmental Outcomes Cohort.The Journal of pediatrics · 2018Trial
- Considerations for Cost Assessment of Implementing Family Healthy Weight Programs Across Community and Clinical Contexts.Childhood obesity (Print) · 2026Article
- Tackling the social determinants of childhood obesity in the United States: policy brief and lessons for developed and emerging economies.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Article
- Market and welfare effects of a nationwide sugar-sweetened beverage tax in the U.S.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
8 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
18 authors at 6 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
introductionThe childhood obesity epidemic continues in the U.S., and fiscal crises are leading policymakers to ask not only whether an intervention works but also whether it offers value for money. However, cost-effectiveness analyses have been limited. This paper discusses methods and outcomes of four childhood obesity interventions: (1) sugar-sweetened beverage excise tax (SSB); (2) eliminating tax subsidy of TV advertising to children (TV AD); (3) early care and education policy change (ECE); and (4) active physical education (Active PE).
methodsCost-effectiveness models of nationwide implementation of interventions were estimated for a simulated cohort representative of the 2015 U.S. population over 10 years (2015-2025). A societal perspective was used; future outcomes were discounted at 3%. Data were analyzed in 2014. Effectiveness, implementation, and equity issues were reviewed.
resultsPopulation reach varied widely, and cost per BMI change ranged from $1.16 (TV AD) to $401 (Active PE). At 10 years, assuming maintenance of the intervention effect, three interventions would save net costs, with SSB and TV AD saving $55 and $38 for every dollar spent. The SSB intervention would avert disability-adjusted life years, and both SSB and TV AD would increase quality-adjusted life years. Both SSB ($12.5 billion) and TV AD ($80 million) would produce yearly tax revenue.
conclusionsThe cost effectiveness of these preventive interventions is greater than that seen for published clinical interventions to treat obesity. Cost-effectiveness evaluations of childhood obesity interventions can provide decision makers with information demonstrating best value for the money.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.