Background: Feeding behaviors adopted by parents influence children's eating, and parent mental health may affect feeding interactions. Anxiety disorders are the most prevalent mental disorders among adults; thus, there is a need to comprehensively understand the relationship between parent anxiety symptomatology and feeding behaviors. Objective:…

Group model building is a participatory workshop technique used in system dynamics for developing community consensus to address complex problems by consensus building on individual assumptions. This study examines changes in individual mental models of the complex problem of childhood obesity following participation in group model building (GMB),…

The current study examines the efficacy of an 8-week pretend play intervention targeting social-cognitive abilities in children with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS), ages 6-9. PWS is a rare disorder associated with various social, emotional, and cognitive challenges linked to pretend play impairments, and for which interventions are sparse. Nineteen…

Gastrointestinal disturbances (GIDs) are relatively common in children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study assessed associations between maternal obesity, diabetes, preeclampsia, and asthma and likelihood of ASD with GIDs. This retrospective cohort study included 308,536 mother-child pairs of singletons born between 2001 and…

Background: This study evaluated the impact of a school-based nutrition program on preventing overweight and obesity in children in Thailand from 2014 to 2019. Methods: We used difference-in-differences with matched comparison group to evaluate program impact. Treatment schools were categorized into those that participated in phase 1 only, and…

The worldwide increase in childhood overweight and obesity underscores the need to study variables like fundamental movement skill (FMS) levels from early childhood. This study investigated the bidirectional longitudinal relationship between body mass index (BMI) and process-oriented FMSs, including locomotor skills and object control skills in…

Objectives: Obesity in children with Down syndrome (DS) has negative implications for behavior. The aim was to assess the influence of weight reduction by diet modification with and without physical therapy sessions on adaptive behavior and some biochemical measures in children with DS with obesity. Methods: The study included 100 children with DS…

Background: Childhood obesity affects around 7-8% of children in Ireland and is associated with increased risks of health complications. Data on healthcare resource use and the related costs for children with obesity are important for research, future service-planning, efforts to reduce the burden on families, and care pathways. However, there is…

The association of overweight/obesity, and central obesity with thiocyanate (SCN), perchlorate (CIO), and nitrate (NO) in childhood and adolescence is unclear. Therefore, this study aimed to explore this association in 4447 participants comprising children and adolescents (aged 6-19 years) using data from the United States National Health and…

Purpose: To examine the associations between muscular fitness (MF) and body composition. Method: MF was assessed with three tests of FitnessGram test battery. Total body fat percentage (BF%), abdominal fat percentage (AF%) and fat-free mass (FFM) were measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). The IOTF body mass index (BMI) cut-offs were…

This systematic review evaluated interventions and relevant outcomes for health promotion and obesity prevention among children and adolescents with developmental disabilities (DD). Twenty-one studies including randomized control trials (n= 9) and quasi-experimental studies (n=12) published between 2010 and 2021 met inclusion criteria related to…

Using the 2017-2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (weighted population size = 35,460,209; 8-18 years old; 52.1% males), we compared the obesity prevalence in children and adolescents between body mass index-based (BMI-based) and total percent body fat-based (BF%-based, measured by the dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry) cutoffs.…

Children in the United States face higher rates of childhood obesity than in other developed countries. A literature review examined eight different articles to discover why these statistics are so high and how occupational therapists can address this issue to reduce rates of childhood obesity. From the age of five, children spend almost 30 hours…

Background: Poor health-related physical fitness (HRPF) and overweight and obesity are common health problems for children with intellectual disability. This study aimed to review existing lifestyle intervention studies, and identify effective strategies for this population. Methods: A systematic search was undertaken in three databases. The…

Food consumption in children with ASD, subclinical ASD and with typical development (TD), and their adequacy to dietary recommendations was studied. A school population sample of 77 children with ASD, 40 with subclinical ASD, and 333 with TD participated. Compared to children with TD, pre-schoolers with ASD consumed fewer raw vegetables and less…