ESPE Abstracts

Introduction: Obesity in childhood and adolescence has been recognized by the WHO as a global epidemic and a major public health problem. Greece, is one of the main countries in Europe where the problem of childhood obesity has increased rapidly. This rise can be attributed to dietary and physical activity risk factors. Recently, there has been a need for a detailed recording and assessment of the lifestyle habits of children and adolescents receiving personalized intervention for the management of obesity.

Aim: To determine the dietary and exercise habits of children and adolescents before and after their participation in an interventional program within the context of the study ‘BigO: Big Data against Childhood Obesity’(http://bigoprogram.eu, Horizon2020, No. 727688).

Methods: Three hundred ninety-four (n=394) children and adolescents, aged 8-18 years, attending our Out-patient Clinic for the Prevention and Management of Overweight and Obesity in Childhood and Adolescence participated in the study prospectively. All subjects underwent a personalized management intervention program that provided guidance on diet, sleep and physical activity. The data collection system included the BigO technology platform, which interfaces with a Smartphone and Smartwatch, and records data on diet, sleep and exercise objectively for each patient. Participants used the BigO system for 4 weeks and wore the watch for specific periods during the week. Subsequently, they entered a personalized life-style intervention program for 4 months and used the system again for 4 weeks.

Results: Of all participants, 74.4% were obese, 25.1% overweight and 0.5% had normal BMI. Following the intervention, a statistically significant decrease was observed in the amount of cheese, cereal with added sugar, savory snacks, pasta and fried potatoes consumption in all BMI categories. Also, an increase in the number of children who drank water between the meals daily was noted in all BMI categories (P-value=0.001). Furthermore, there was a decrease in the consumption of evening snack or dinner watching television (P-value<0.05). Boys showed a decrease in the amount of savory snacks and pasta (P-value<0.05) and drank more water between meals daily (P-value<0.001).

Conclusion: A personalized and multidisciplinary intervention based on the BigO study improves dietary and physical activity habits of children and adolescents.