The effectiveness of nurse-led interventions to prevent childhood and adolescent overweight and obesity: A systematic review of randomised trials.

Most included studies had a high risk of bias, especially because missing outcome data were not described, treated or analysed adequately. The studies varied widely in participant ages, follow-up length, weight outcomes and intervention dose, so the results could not be pooled. Many interventions were multicomponent and delivered by nurses alongside other professionals, so the effect of nursing alone cannot be separated. Positive findings were often short-lived, and follow-up was inconsistent across studies. Nurses were rarely involved in designing the interventions, which may affect how faithfully the programmes reflect nursing practice.

The authors declared no conflicts of interest.

Do not conclude that nurse-led counselling reliably reduces childhood BMI. Most trials showed little or no lasting change, and many interventions included dietitians, physiotherapists, camps or devices, so the nursing component alone cannot be separated.