Oral Presentation ANZOS Annual Scientific Meeting 2021

Almost one in four Australian children has overweight or obesity by the time they start school, underscoring the importance of early prevention interventions. Yet, existing interventions are a ‘black box’, meaning they are complex and their internal workings are hidden or not readily understood. Further, the heterogeneous nature of interventions can make evidence synthesis across studies difficult or even impossible. To address these issues, we have developed and applied a suite of collaborative ‘NextGen’ methodologies, to bring together researchers in Australia, New Zealand and globally to ultimately determine which early obesity prevention interventions work best and for whom.

This presentation will offer a brief overview of available methodologies, findings to date, and next steps, by covering the following content:

• A taster of innovative methodologies, including individual participant data and prospective meta-analysis, and how they have been applied to bring together and understand childhood obesity prevention interventions in Australia and New Zealand;
• Our findings on effectiveness and sustainability of early childhood obesity prevention interventions in Australia and New Zealand, and key recommendations for future interventions derived from the EPOCH (Early Prevention of Obesity in CHildren) Collaboration;
• Introduction to the TOPCHILD (Transforming Obesity Prevention for Children) Collaboration, a global initiative bringing together early obesity prevention trials from around the world.