Summary:
In primary school-aged children in China, a multi-component, App-assisted obesity prevention programme (DECIDE-Children) significantly reduced BMI, BMI Z-score, body fat percentage, and waist circumference and yielded cost-effective QALY gains compared to usual school-based health education, though it was associated with modest implementation costs (USD 19.53/student) and a cost-benefit ratio of 0.84.
| PICO | Description |
|---|---|
| Population | Children aged 8–10 years attending 24 primary schools across three socioeconomically distinct regions in China. |
| Intervention | The DECIDE-Children intervention: a 1-year, school-, family-, and digitally integrated obesity prevention programme supported by a mobile app for health education, behavior tracking, and weight management feedback. |
| Comparison | Usual care comprising standard health education provided by schools without the additional components of the DECIDE-Children programme. |
| Outcome | The intervention achieved significant reductions in BMI (ICER: 42.46 USD/unit), BMI Z-score (11.49 USD/0.1 unit), body fat (18.60 USD/%), and waist circumference (11.98 USD/cm). The ICUR was 4644.42 USD per QALY gained, and projected national implementation would yield over 419,000 QALYs and USD 1.86 billion in net benefits. Sensitivity analyses confirmed robustness. |
Source: Yan, Shiyu, et al. “Economic evaluation of a multi-component obesity prevention intervention in Chinese primary schools.” BMC Medicine. Read article here.
