Interventions to prevent obesity in Latinx children globally: protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis

Rates of childhood obesity have accelerated rapidly over the past decade in low- and middle-income countries and in Latin America in particular. At the same time, Latinx children in high-income countries have been disproportionately affected by obesity. Public health and medical experts have called for greater focus on multi-sector approaches to obesity prevention, including policy, systems, and environmental strategies, but current evidence for effective intervention strategies among Latinx children is lacking. Several systematic reviews have investigated obesity prevention interventions in Latinx children in the United States and in Latin America, including our own review, but these are now a decade old. Thus, an updated review of existing interventions is needed. To address this gap, we will conduct a systematic review and summary of interventions for obesity prevention among Latinx children published over the past 10 years. The objective of this paper is to outline the protocol for conducting the systematic review and possible meta-analysis.

We will conduct a literature search using PubMed, ERIC, PsycINFO, Scopus, Scientific Electronic Library Online, and Google Scholar databases for studies of interventions to prevent obesity in Latinx children ages birth to 18 years of age. To meet our definition of an intervention, we will include study designs that evaluate the either the efficacy or effectiveness of obesity prevention interventions, including randomized controlled trials, quasi-experimental studies, and non-randomized interventions with a control or comparison group. We will exclude interventions that aimed to treat rather than prevent overweight or obesity. Interventions may take place in any country or setting. The primary outcome of interest will be child overweight or obesity, measured as adiposity, body mass, or similar anthropometric measures. We will assess risk of bias of included studies using the Cochrane risk of bias tool for randomized and non-randomized studies, as appropriate. We may conduct meta-analyses if studies with comparable exposure and outcome variables are available.

This protocol paper establishes a methodology for a future systemic review of obesity prevention interventions in Latinx children. A systematic review of this topic will provide an important update to the literature regarding interventions to prevent obesity in Latinx child populations globally over the past decade. Review results will be relevant to stakeholders across multiple sectors engaged in childhood obesity prevention among Latinx children.

PROSPERO CRD42020161339.