A systematic review of the effectiveness of individual, community and societal level interventions at reducing socioeconomic inequalities in obesity amongst children

Table 3 Summary details of the societal level study included in the review

Study	Design & quality appraisal ¹	Setting & participants	Study aim	Intervention ²	Inequality ³	Summary results ⁴ ↑ = increase ↓ = decrease ↔ = no change		Impact on inequalities in obesity ⁵
Bürgi et al 2012 [53] and Puder et al 2011 [54]	Cluster RCT; 9.5 month follow-up; Final sample = 625; Quality = Strong	40 schools, Switzerland; 5.2 years; 50% girls	Reduce obesity and improve fitness levels in children from socially disadvantaged backgrounds	Nutrition and physical activity intervention; Prevention: Built environment adapted to promote physical activity (fixed and mobile equipment) plus exercise sessions; nutrition education; information and discussion evenings for parents	Universal: trend for greater intervention effectiveness in higher SES children but not statistically significant	BMI	↔	0
						Body fat% (↑SES)	↓
						Body fat (↓SES)	↔
						Skinfold thickness	↓
						Waist circumference	↓
						Overweight prevalence	↔
						Fitness (↑SES)	↑
						Fitness (↓SES)	↔

¹Global Quality appraisal from EPHPP (16); ²Prevention or treatment intervention; ³Targeted/Universal approach to inequality; ⁴p < 0.05.This is the relative mean differences between intervention and control at follow-up; ⁵+ positive intervention effect so it reduces obesity-related outcomes in low SES groups or reduces the SES gradient in obesity-related outcomes, 0 no intervention effect or no effect on SES gradient in obesity-related outcomes; SES = Socioeconomic status; BMI = Body mass index.

ISSN: 1471-2458