RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Latino children and youth have some of the highest rates of overweight and obesity. Early intervention is important to prevent future obesity and illness in this population. METHODS: A 3-year, multifaceted intervention was designed to reduce the rate of growth of body mass index (BMI) among Mexican-origin children. Two communities in California's agricultural Central Valley were targeted for intervention and comparison. To assess impact, anthropometric measures of participating children (N = 422) were collected and analysed at baseline and after 1 year of intervention. RESULTS: After 1 year of intervention, triceps skin-fold thickness in girls showed a significant decrease in unadjusted analysis between children in the two communities. In multivariate analysis, a reduction in BMI growth was seen among obese boys in the intervention community (ß-coefficient = -1.94, P = 0.05). Obese boys in the intervention community also had a smaller increase in waist circumference (ß-coefficient = -5.2, P = 0.04) than the comparison community. CONCLUSIONS: These early findings indicate the intervention's effectiveness for preventing BMI growth among obese boys. Longitudinal follow-up is needed to determine the sustainability of results and whether similar results extend to obese girls and overweight boys or girls.