Τhe characteristics of unsuccessful treatment programs in childhood obesity

Childhood obesity has become a pandemic of the 21st century with difficult treatment. Programs for treating childhood obesity through lifestyle changes are moderately effective, while there is minimal researchthat addresses the causes of the program’s failure/success. The purpose of this review was to investigate the characteristics of unsuccessful childhood obesity programs. Definition of successful or unsuccessful programs was based on statistically significant weight loss. The characteristics of unsuccessful childhood obesity programs concern both the parameters of the program structure and the characteristics of the participants. The most important failure factor that emerged was the intensity of the program, i.e. the duration and frequency of the sessions. On the other hand, many characteristics, which have been proposed as predictors of a successful outcome, are necessary for the success of an intervention, but they cannot guarantee it. Probably a single factor is not enough nor responsible for the outcome of weight management programs in children. Most likely, the outcome of the intervention is the result of an (im-) balance between a set of characteristics that lead to the desired or not result. In conclusion, it would be prudent for child weight management programs to focus on the high intensity of the intervention, to be multidisciplinary with experienced staff, to involve parents or family, to utilize behavioral therapy, and to individualize or segregate participants into groups based on some important for the outcome of the intervention characteristics of the participants (e.g. children’s characteristics, children’s psychological factors, parents’ characteristics and family factors).