Impact of an Elementary School-Based Wellness Initiative on Child Obesity Prevalence: LiveWell Kids

Despite major public health investments over the past several decades, little progress has been made in reducing the prevalence of obesity among school-aged children in the United States. In 2007, the Redondo Beach Unified School District (RBUSD) and the Beach Cities Health District launched a wellness initiative, LiveWell Kids, that included multi-level interventions to improve nutrition and increase physical activity. The initiative also included annual measurements of height and weight among all kindergartners and first, third, and fifth graders in the eight elementary schools in the RBUSD. To assess trends in obesity prevalence, we analyzed height and weight data collected during the 2008 to 2009 to 2018 to 2019 school years. To more fully assess the impact of the initiative, we conducted a least-squares regression difference-in-differences analysis of data from the California Physical Fitness Testing Program on measured height and weight among fifth graders from the RBUSD, three neighboring school districts, and Los Angeles County overall. Among elementary school students in the RBUSD, obesity prevalence decreased from 13.9% in 2008 to 2009 to 6.4% in 2018 to 2019. Significant declines in prevalence were observed in all eight elementary schools, and across all grade levels and demographic groups. Among fifth graders, a similar decline in obesity prevalence was not observed in the other school districts or the county overall. The findings suggest that interventions that adhere to the socio-ecologic model and engage students, parents, and school personnel at all levels while also addressing school and community environments may reduce obesity prevalence among elementary school-aged children.