[An Early Obesity Prevention Program: HaViSa UC (2009-2019)].

Introduction: Prevention is the definitive solution to the serious nutritional epidemiological pro blem of children in our country and the world, obesity.

Objective: To describe the results of an obesi ty prevention program for infants and preschoolers, ten years after its implementation.

Subjects And Methods: Retrospective, and quasi-experimental study of the overweight and obesity prevalence, in children attending three nursery and preschool centers located at the Universidad Católica de Chile, since the implementation of a multidimensional program for early promotion of healthy lifestyle habits (HaViSa-UC) between 2009 and 2019. This study obtained ethical approval. Annual records of anthropometric assessment (WHO 2006) were analyzed using Minitab 17 software. The actions applied by the HaViSa-UC program were the assessment of nutritional status and communication with parents, delivery of healthy food, promotion of an active lifestyle, and education to encourage such healthy habits.

Results: The annual mean was 319 subjects, 14% younger than two years old, and 49.5% were girls. In March 2009 (baseline), 32.6% had overweight and 8.6% obesity; both figures decreased reaching 23.8% and 4.7% respectively, in March 2019. Normal weight increased from 56.9 to 67.4% and malnutrition presented no increase. In the same period, zW/H dropped from 0.84 ± 0.94 to 0.55 ± 0.87 (p: 0.00), and zH/A increased from -0.36 ± 0.87 to -0.32 ± 0.90 (p > 0.05). Con clusion: Since the implementation of the HaViSa-UC Program, the frequency of obesity decreased by 45.4% and overweight by 27.2% in this sample of infants and preschoolers, remaining stable after 10 years.