Most interventions for treating childhood overweight and obesity were cost-effective over the long term in a systematic review of reports of their costs and benefits, researchers report. The authors conclude, “Our study identified important methodological issues, which, if addressed, will enhance the quality and comparability of economic evaluations of interventions targeting childhood excess weight.”
The assessment included 151 studies in 3 categories: prevention only (13 studies), prevention and treatment (100 studies), and treatment only (38 studies). “The predominant setting and study design differed considerably between the three groups of studies,” the authors write. “However, compared with usual care, most interventions were deemed cost-effective. The study participants’ ages, sex, and socioeconomic status were crucial to intervention cost-effectiveness. Interventions whose effects were projected beyond childhood, such as bariatric surgery, lower protein infant formula, and home-based general practitioner consultations, tended to be cost-effective. However, cost-effectiveness was sensitive to the assumptions underlying the persistence and intensity of such effects.”