Evaluation of intervention effect of health education on overweight and obesity among middle school students in Guangzhou / 中国学校卫生

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To explore the effect of the comprehensive intervention on overweight and obesity among middle school students at the population level (health education lecture and official account push) and individual level (personalized dietary guidance), so as to provide a reference for preventing and controlling their overweight and obesity.@*Methods@#Three junior high schools and three senior high schools were randomly selected in Guangzhou in 2018 by convenience sampling. Through physical examination, 1 457 overweight and obese students aged from 12 to 18 years old were screened. Intervention was administered through "Student Personalized Dietary Guidance" manual, health tweets on the official accounts, and health education lectures from September 2018 to December 2019. The Chi square test was used to compare the difference in overweight and obesity constituent ratio between the two groups before and after the intervention. And intervention effect was evaluated by analyzing the number needed to treated(NTT).@*Results@#The proportion of overweight before the intervention was 66.71% (972/1 457), and decreased to 59.92% (873/1 457) after the intervention; the proportion of obesity before the intervention was 33.29% (485/1 457), which decreased to 26.63% (388/1 457) after the intervention. Among obese students, the smallest NNT was seen in the girl group aged 12-13 years (NNT=2.6, 95% CI =1.9-4.1), while the largest NNT in the boy group aged 14-18 years (NNT=5.9, 95% CI =4.7-8.1). The NNT of the girls aged 12-13 years was the smallest (NNT=2.7, 95% CI =2.2-3.5), and the NNT of the boys aged 14-18 years was the largest (NNT=7.4, 95% CI =6.0-9.7).@*Conclusion@#Health education at population level (health education lectures, official account push) with individual level (personalized dietary guidance) can effectively intervene overweight and obesity among middle school students in Guangzhou.