Weight Loss in Overweight Children: Is Directing Treatment at Parents Enough?
By Amy Orciari Herman
Edited by David G. Fairchild, MD, MPH, and Lorenzo Di Francesco, MD, FACP, FHM

Weight loss interventions for children may be just as effective when only parents attend treatment sessions as when children also attend, a JAMA Pediatrics study finds.
Some 150 overweight or obese children aged 8–13 years and their parents were randomized to family-based or parent-based treatment for 6 months. With family-based treatment, parents attended twenty 1-hour group sessions, children attended simultaneous 1-hour sessions, and children and parents had twenty 30-minute sessions with a behavioral coach. Parent-based treatment followed the same schedule, but children didn’t attend any meetings. Treatment included nutrition and exercise recommendations, parenting skills, and behavior modification strategies.
At 18 months’ posttreatment, children in both groups had achieved significant weight loss, with no difference between the groups. Parent-based treatment was also noninferior to family-based treatment for secondary outcomes including parent weight loss, parent and child calorie consumption, and physical activity.