CPSTF Recommends Digital Health Interventions for Adolescents with Overweight or Obesity The Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) recommends digital health interventions to assist adolescents with overweight or obesity with weight management. A systematic review of evidence shows these interventions lead to small but meaningful weight reductions. What do these interventions involve? These interventions are for adolescents aged 12-18 years who have overweight or obesity. They combine self-monitoring and goal setting to increase adolescents’ awareness of healthy dietary or physical activity behaviors that help with weight management. Trained personnel moderate programs with oversight by healthcare providers including psychologists, health counselors, dietitians, nurses, and pediatricians.

Why is this important?

• Obesity prevalence is 20.6% among 12- to 19-year-olds.¹
• Adolescent obesity is related to anxiety, depression, lower self-esteem, lower self-reported quality of life, and social problems such as bullying and stigma.^2-4

Children who have obesity are more likely to become adults with obesity. Adult obesity is associated with increased risk of a number of serious health conditions including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancer.^5,6

Intervention Summary—read a summary of the evidence review and CPSTF finding.
News and Announcement—include this story in your newsletter, or share the link with colleagues.

One-Pager—use this one-pager for school-based asthma self-management interventions as a quick reference.

Twitter®—retweet @CPSTF messages about the new recommendation or tweet one of the following examples: New @CPSTF recommendation: digital health interventions help adolescents with overweight or obesity with healthy lifestyle behaviors #TheCommunityGuide https://www.thecommunityguide.org/findings/obesity-prevention-and-control-digital-health-interventions-adolescents-overweight-obesity CPSTF releases new recommendation for interventions targeting adolescents with overweight or obesity #TheCommunityGuide https://www.thecommunityguide.org/findings/obesity-prevention-and-control-digital-health-interventions-adolescents-overweight-obesity Adolescents with overweight or obesity can benefit from digital health interventions. New CPSTF recommendation! #TheCommunityGuide https://www.thecommunityguide.org/findings/obesity-prevention-and-control-digital-health-interventions-adolescents-overweight-obesity

References

¹Hales CM, Carroll MD, Fryar CD, Ogden CL. Prevalence of obesity among adults and youth: United States, 2015–2016. NCHS data brief, no 288. National Center for Health Statistics, Hyattsville (MD): 2017.

²Beck AR. Psychosocial aspects of obesity. NASN Sch Nurse 2016;31(1):23–7.

³Halfon N, Kandyce L, Slusser W. Associations between obesity and comorbid mental health, developmental, and physical health conditions in a nationally representative sample of US children aged 10 to 17. Academic Pediatrics 2013;13.1:6–13.

⁴Morrison KM, Shin S, Tarnopolsky M, Taylor VH. Association of depression and health related quality of life with body composition in children and youth with obesity. Journal of Affective Disorders 2015;172:18–23.

⁵Gordon-Larsen P, The NS, Adair LS. Longitudinal trends in obesity in the United States from adolescence to the third decade of life. Obesity 2010;18(9):1801–4.

⁶Jensen MD, Ryan DH, Apovian CM, et al., for the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines; Obesity Society. 2013 AHA/ACC/TOS guideline for the management of overweight and obesity in adults: a report of the American College of Cardiology/American 3 Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines and The Obesity Society. J Am Coll Cardiol 2014;63(25 Pt B):2985–3023.