Randomized controlled trial to start in 2013

Temple Street Childhood obesity treatment service is effective: randomized controlled trial to start in 2013

The Temple street W82GO! healthy Lifestyles Service is an evidence-based multidisciplinary treatment for children an adolescents who are clinically obese.  The results of the intervention to date were presented at the European Congress on Obesity in summer 2012 and published in Obesity Facts journal. From 219 children referred, 164 accepted treatment and in those children the effects of treatment at 12 months were statistically and clinically significant. These treatment effects were as good or better than the recent Cochrane meta-analysis of childhood obesity interventions (Oude-Luttikhuis 2009).

Efforts are being made nationally to address efforts to prevent obesity however; the treatment of those already diagnosed as being clinically obese has for the most part targetted adults. It is clear that treatment of childhood obesity can target both the prevention of adult obesity and in the immediate term can address the co-morbidities, which the child presents. The Temple Street W82GO! Service has found that up to 40% of children who are obese present with associated co-morbidities.

The team is investigating ways to provide treatment within the community setting and in an effort to scale up access to treatment, from Spring 2013 the hospital will host a randomized controlled trial. This research is being funded by the HRB, the Children’s Fund for Health and the National Children’s Research Centre and will compare the effect of usual care (W82GO!) with remote care delivered via an Android smartphone application.

The team welcomes referrals to the W82GO service and in particular to the Smartphone trial. Adolescents aged 12-16 years who have a BMI on or above the 98th percentile should be referred to Dr. Sinead Murphy, Consultant Paediatrician, Temple Street Children’s University Hospital, Temple Street, Dublin 1*.

For further enquires regarding the W82GO intervention or the smartphone study, please contact the Principal Investigator, Grace O’Malley on 01 8784563 or Grace.O’Malley@cuh.ie

*If referring, please include date of assessment, and measures of height and weight.