Peer-reviewed article
Impact of an Intensive Lifestyle Camp on Anthropometry and Quality of Life in Vulnerable Children: A 3-Year Follow-Up of a Nonrandomized Clinical Trial.
Pauls DD, Clausen L, Brader L, Järvholm K, Støvring H et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study followed 126 vulnerable children (aged 7-14 years) for 3 years after they attended a 10-week intensive lifestyle camp designed to address overweight, obesity, and psychosocial issues. Children showed improved body mass index and quality of life immediately after the camp, but most improvements decreased over the 3-year follow-up period. By age 15, about 83% of participants still had overweight or obesity, though their body mass index remained lower than at baseline and their quality of life stayed higher than before the intervention. The results suggest the camp helped initially but long-term gains require additional ongoing support.
Key points
- Body mass index standard deviation score improved from 2.48 SD at baseline to 2.00 SD at 3-year follow-up
- Quality of life remained higher at 3-year follow-up compared to baseline, despite decreasing from end-of-treatment levels
- 83% of participants still lived with overweight or obesity at 3-year follow-up
- Girls showed increases in body mass index and body fat from end-of-treatment to follow-up, while boys showed decreases in body fat but no change in body mass index
- The intensive 10-week camp focused on well-being, peer interaction, and social belonging
Limitations
The study had significant loss to follow-up (57% attrition at 3 years), and no comparison group was available to determine whether observed changes were due to the intervention or natural developmental trajectories. The findings cannot establish causation or determine whether outcomes would have been different without the intervention.
Abstract
Introduction The prevalence of overweight and obesity in children and adolescents continues to rise, and there is a lack of long-term follow-up to clarify health and well-being trajectories into adolescence and adulthood. This study investigated anthropometry and quality of life (QoL) trajectories in 7-14-year-old vulnerable children 3 years after attending a lifestyle camp. Methods Vulnerable children referred to a 10-week multicomponent lifestyle camp due to overweight or obesity, and/or psychosocial issues were enrolled. Anthropometry was assessed using bioelectric impedance and QoL using the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory. Mixed-effects models were performed to assess longitudinal changes in anthropometry and QoL and explore if improvements achieved during the lifestyle intervention predicted long-term outcomes. Results In total, 222 participants (12.3 ± 1.4 years) were included, of which 126 (56%) participated in the 3-year follow-up (15.4 ± 1.3 years). Of those, 91 (72%) had anthropometry assessed, and the majority (83%) of participants were still living with overweight/obesity. Body mass index standard deviation score (BMI-SDS) was lower at 3 years (2.00 standard deviation [SD] ± 1.1) compared to baseline (2.48 SD ± 0.9). QoL remained higher at the 3-year follow-up compared to before the intervention. Compared to end-of-treatment, girls had an increase in BMI-SDS (0.37 SD [95% CI 0.26; 0.48]) and body fat (5.62% [95% CI 4.36; 6.88]) at the 3-year follow-up, while boys had a decrease in body fat (-2.25% [95% CI -3.87; -0.62]) but no change in BMI-SDS. Overall, QoL decreased (total QoL -8.33 [95% CI -10.73; -5.94]) during the post-intervention phase. Conclusion The lifestyle camp, a child-centered intensive short-term multicomponent intervention focused on well-being, peer interaction, and social belonging, may be a promising treatment strategy for improving health and well-being long-term in vulnerable children, although the improvements attenuate across time. Future research should explore the potential to rethink treatment strategies and investigate whether continuous long-term support may help sustain improvements further throughout adolescence.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- 10-week intensive multicomponent lifestyle camp focused on physical activity, nutrition, well-being, peer interaction, and social belonging
- Population
- 222 vulnerable children aged 7-14 years (mean 12.3 years) referred for overweight/obesity and/or psychosocial issues; 126 (57%) completed 3-year follow-up assessment
Key finding
Body mass index standard deviation score decreased from 2.48 SD (baseline) to 2.00 SD (3-year follow-up), a clinically meaningful improvement