Factors Associated with Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Intake Among Young Children - United States, 2021.

Introduction: Because limited data exist about factors related to sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) intake among younger children, we investigated factors associated with SSB intake among US children aged 1 to 5 years.

Methods: We examined SSB intake (0, 1-3, or ≥4 times/week) by using data from the 2021 National Survey of Children's Health. We performed a multinomial logistic regression to calculate adjusted odds ratios (aORs) for select sociodemographic and household factors associated with moderate (1-3 times/week) and high (≥4 times/week) SSB intake.

Time Playing Outdoors Among Children Aged 3-5 Years: National Survey of Children's Health, 2021.

Introduction: Federal guidelines recommend physical activity throughout the day for preschool-aged children. Time playing outdoors can support physical activity participation, health, and development. Estimates of time playing outdoors among U.

Multi-State Implementation of Go NAPSACC to Support Healthy Practices in the Early Care and Education Setting.

Childhood obesity in the United States is a serious problem that puts children at risk for poor health. Effective state-wide interventions are needed to address childhood obesity risk factors. Embedding evidence-based initiatives into state-level Early Care and Education (ECE) systems has the potential to improve health environments and promote healthy habits for the 12.

Fruit, Vegetable, and Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Intake Among Young Children, by State - United States, 2021.

Good nutrition in early childhood supports optimal growth, development, and health (1). Federal guidelines support a dietary pattern with daily fruit and vegetable consumption and limited added sugars, including limited consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (1). Government-published dietary intake estimates for young children are outdated at the national level and unavailable at the state level.

Supporting Healthy Weight in Statewide Quality Rating and Improvement Systems: A Review of 2020 Standards and Comparison to 2015 Standards.

Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRISs) are used to assess, improve, and communicate quality in early care and education (ECE) programs. One strategy for supporting healthy growth in early childhood is embedding nutrition, physical activity, infant feeding, and screen time content into state QRIS standards, using the Caring for Our Children high-impact obesity prevention standards (HIOPS) and the CDC Spectrum of Opportunities framework (CDC Spectrum). We assessed the number of obesity prevention standards in QRISs in 2020 and compared results to an analysis published in 2015.

Improving Nutrition in the First 1000 Days in the United States: A Federal Perspective.

The first 1000 days begins with pregnancy and ends at the child's second birthday. Nutrition throughout the life course, and especially during the first 1000 days, supports maternal health and optimal growth and development for children. We give a high-level summary of the state of nutrition in the first 1000 days in the United States.

A Healthy Start: National Trends in Child Care Regulations and Uptake of Obesity Prevention Standards (2010-2018).

Obesity remains a significant public health issue in the United States. Each week, millions of infants and children are cared for in early care and education (ECE) programs, making it an important setting for building healthy habits. Since 2010, 39 states promulgated licensing regulations impacting infant feeding, nutrition, physical activity, or screen time practices.

Body Mass Index and Blood Pressure Improvements With a Pediatric Weight Management Intervention at Federally Qualified Health Centers.

Objective: The Mind, Exercise, Nutrition, Do It! 7-13 (MEND 7-13) program was adapted in 2016 by 5 Denver Health federally qualified health centers (DH FQHC) into MEND+, integrating clinician medical visits into the curriculum and tracking health measures within an electronic health record (EHR). We examined trajectories of body mass index (BMI, kg/m) percentile, and systolic and diastolic blood pressures (SBP and DBP) among MEND+ attendees in an expanded age range of 4 to 17 years, and comparable nonattendees.

Methods: Data from April 2015 to May 2018 were extracted from DH FQHC EHR for children eligible for MEND+ referral (BMI ≥85th percentile).

Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity Among Children Enrolled in Head Start, 2012-2018.

Purpose: Determine prevalence of overweight and obesity as reported in Head Start Program Information Reports.

Design: Serial cross-sectional census reports from 2012-2018.

Setting: Head Start programs countrywide, aggregated from program level to state and national level.

US Pediatrician Practices and Attitudes Concerning Childhood Obesity: 2006 and 2017.

Objective: To compare primary care pediatricians' practices and attitudes regarding obesity assessment, prevention, and treatment in children 2 years and older in 2006 and 2017.

Study Design: National, random samples of American Academy of Pediatrics members were surveyed in 2006, 2010, and 2017 on practices and attitudes regarding overweight and obesity (analytic n = 655, 592, and 558, respectively). Using logistic regression models (controlling for pediatrician and practice characteristics), we examined survey year with predicted values (PVs), including body mass index (BMI) assessment across 2006, 2010, and 2017 and practices and attitudes in 2006 and 2017.

Referrals and Management Strategies for Pediatric Obesity- Survey 2017.

Childhood obesity care management options can be delivered in community-, clinic-, and hospital-settings. The referral practices of clinicians to these various settings have not previously been characterized beyond the local level. This study describes the management strategies and referral practices of clinicians caring for pediatric patients with obesity and associated clinician characteristics in a geographically diverse sample.

Screening and Referral for Childhood Obesity: Adherence to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Recommendation.

Introduction: The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends clinicians screen children aged 6 years or older for obesity and offer or refer children with obesity to intensive weight management programs.

Childhood Obesity Declines Project: An Effort of the National Collaborative on Childhood Obesity Research to Explore Progress in Four Communities.

Background: Recent findings show that national childhood obesity prevalence overall is improving among some age groups, but that disparities continue to persist, particularly among populations that have historically been at higher risk of obesity and overweight. Over the past several years, many jurisdictions at the city or county level across the nation have also reported declines. Little evaluation has focused on understanding the factors that influence the implementation of efforts to reduce childhood obesity rates.

Childhood Obesity Declines Project: A Different Methodology.

Background: The evidence for and our understanding of community-level strategies such as policies, system, and environmental changes that support healthy eating and active living is growing. However, researchers and evaluation scientists alike are still not confident in what to recommend for preventing or sustaining declines in the prevalence of obesity.

Methods: The Systematic Screening and Assessment (SSA) methodology was adapted as a retrospective process to confirm obesity declines and to better understand what and how policies and programs or interventions may contribute as drivers.

The Childhood Obesity Declines Project: Implications for Research and Evaluation Approaches.

Background: Childhood obesity remains prevalent and is increasing in some disadvantaged populations. Numerous research, policy and community initiatives are undertaken to impact this pandemic. Understudied are natural experiments.

The Childhood Obesity Declines Project: A Review of Enacted Policies.

Background: State- and local-level policies can influence children's diet quality and physical activity (PA) behaviors. The goal of this article is to understand the enacted state and local policy landscape in four communities reporting declines in childhood obesity.

Methods And Results: State-level policies were searched within the CDC's online Chronic Disease State Policy Tracking System.

Childhood Obesity Declines Project: Highlights of Community Strategies and Policies.

Background: The social ecological model (SEM) is a framework for understanding the interactive effects of personal and environmental factors that determine behavior. The SEM has been used to examine childhood obesity interventions and identify factors at each level that impact behaviors. However, little is known about how those factors interact both within and across levels of the SEM.

Childhood Obesity Declines Project: An Exploratory Study of Strategies Identified in Communities Reporting Declines.

Background: Although childhood obesity rates have been high in the last few decades, recent national reports indicate a stabilization of rates among some subpopulations of children. This study examines the implementation of initiatives, policies, and programs (referred to as strategies) in four communities that experienced declines in childhood obesity between 2003 and 2012.

Methods And Results: The Childhood Obesity Decline project verified obesity declines and identified strategies that may have influenced and supported the decline in obesity.

Supporting Obesity Prevention in Statewide Quality Rating and Improvement Systems: A Review of State Standards.

Introduction: A quality rating and improvement system (QRIS) is a fundamental component of most states' early care and education infrastructures. States can use a QRIS to set standards that define high-quality care and award child care providers with a quality rating designation based on how well they meet these standards. The objective of this review was to describe the extent to which states' QRIS standards include obesity prevention content.