Childhood obesity in the first 2000 days: A focus on primary health care in regional and rural Australia.
Juliana M Betts, Michelle Gooey, Alex Chung and 8 others
PMID 39907191WHAT IT FOUND
Telemedicine, nurse care navigation and community health workers may improve rural access to care from pregnancy to age 5, but evidence is low/moderate and long-term obesity outcomes were not shown.
Key findings
01Seven eligible studies in Review 1 identified telemedicine, nurse-led programs and lay community health workers as possible ways to improve rural access, and all were rated moderate quality.
02Review 2 included three moderate-quality models of healthy lifestyle advice, but none had long-term follow-up for health outcomes.
03Review 3 included 12 studies and reported objective improvements in maternal mental health, child health-related quality of life, parental health literacy and social capital, but most evaluations focused on staff experiences.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPsWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The authors say the reviews may not have captured all available research. No consumer with lived experience of being a rural parent of a child with obesity informed the work. Review 1 included only 7 studies, Review 2 included only 3 studies, and Review 3 included 12 studies. Many included studies were qualitative or descriptive, and most were rated moderate quality. None of the healthy lifestyle advice studies had long-term follow-up for health outcomes. Most partnership evaluations were limited to staff experiences.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that telemedicine, nurse-led programs or community health workers prevent or treat childhood obesity. The reviews found access, knowledge and satisfaction benefits, but the evidence was moderate or low quality and did not show long-term obesity outcomes.