Telephone Follow-up Aids Obese Children After Treatment

Frequent telephone follow-up contacts and activity diaries may help children maintain weight loss and improve exercise levels, according to the results of a recent study. Twenty children who completed a 10-month residential program were randomly assigned to either: (1) a 5-month follow-up program (experimental group) or (2) care as usual (controls). Children in the experimental group sent an activity diary to a therapist each week; the therapist then telephoned the children biweekly to discuss their activities and behavior. The control group tended to regain more weight than the experimental group, but differences in weight gain were not significant. The experimental group participated in sports and high-intensity activities significantly more than the control group. The active children also spent less time watching television and playing computer games than did the control group. Dr. B. Deforche and colleagues reported their results at the Ninth International Congress on Obesity in Sao Paulo, Brazil, last August.