Body Mass Index of children and adolescent participants in a voucher program designed to incentivise participation in sport and physical activity
Abstract Background There has been limited population-level success in tackling overweight and obesity. The Active Kids program is a state-wide intervention that aims to increase participation in organised physical activity and sport among children and adolescents in NSW, Australia. This study profiled children and adolescents who registered for the Active Kids program by examining the prevalence of overweight and obesity across subgroups and by social disadvantage in this sample. MethodsFor participating children, each parent or carer was required to complete an online registration form with information about the child’s height, weight, physical activity, sport participation, age, sex, primary language spoken at home, Aboriginality, disability status and postcode. Descriptive statistics were used to profile children and adolescents who registered in the program and multinomial regression models were used to determine which demographic characteristics were associated with an increased risk of overweight and obesity. Results In 2018, 671,375 parents registered a child or adolescent for the Active Kids Program. Among these children and adolescents, the prevalence of overweight and obesity was 17.2% and 7.6%, respectively. A large number of children and adolescents who lived in the most disadvantaged area (n = 99,583; 14.8%) registered for the program. There was a clear socio-economic gradient for obesity prevalence across areas of increasing disadvantage, with children and adolescents living in the most disadvantaged area being 1.87 (95% CIs 1.82, 1.93) times more likely to be overweight or obese compared with children and adolescents living in the least disadvantaged area. Conclusions The Active Kids program successfully reached a substantial proportion of overweight and obese children from socially disadvantaged backgrounds, providing financial support and opportunities for these children to participate in organised sport and physical activity. However, the program did not reach all children, and additional physical activity promotion strategies may be needed in a comprehensive approach. Nonetheless, these findings support government investment in reaching childhood overweight and obesity with large-scale programs.