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American Journal of Epidemiology Vol. 122, No. 5: 772-781
Copyright © 1985 by The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health

research-article

PRIMARY PREVENTION OF CHRONIC DISEASE IN CHILDHOOD: CHANGES IN RISK FACTORS AFTER ONE YEAR OF INTERVENTION

HEATHER J. WALTER1,, ALBERT HOFMAN2, PATRICIA A. CONNELLY1, LINDA T. BARRETT1 and KATHRYN L. KOST1

1Division of Child Health, American Health Foundation 320 East 43rd Street, New York, NY 10017
2Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus University Medical School Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Reprint request to Dr. Heather J.Walter

A five-year intervention study of the feasibility and effectiveness of a program aimed at the primary prevention of chronic disease was initiated in 1980 among children in 22 elementary schools in the Bronx, New York. Schools randomly were assigned either to the intervention program or to a control group. The intervention program consists of a curriculum focusing on nutrition, physical fitness, and cigarette smoking prevention. The study population at baseline comprised 2,283 fourth-graders. Subjects were eligible at baseline and at one-year follow-up for participation in a medical examination in which the following target risk factors were measured: systolic and diastolic blood pressures, plasma total and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, serum thiocyanate, ponderosity index, triceps skinfold thickness, and postexercise pulse recovery rate. After one year of intervention, systolic pressure increased less in the intervention group than among controls. Diastolic pressure decreased in both groups, but more in the intervention subjects than in controls. Total cholesterol decreased in the intervention group while increasing among controls. Significant net changes in the favorable direction also were observed for total cholesterol/HDL cholesterol ratio and for thiocyanate. These observations indicate that it is feasible to implement a school-based program aimed at the primary prevention of chronic disease. The intervention program appears to have had a favorable effect on several target risk factors. Although the effects were relatively small, intervention programs in schools may prove to be effective in lowering chronic disease risk.

blood pressure; cholesterol; disease chronic; evalution studies; preventive health services; school health services,smoking


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