Strategies to Prevent Childhood Obesity in the UK: Research Protocol

This report presents a research protocol designed to analyze and address the issue of childhood obesity in the United Kingdom. The introduction highlights the increasing prevalence of obesity among children in the UK and its associated health risks, such as cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. Th...Read More

Research Protocol

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................3
Review Objective........................................................................................................................3
Methods ......................................................................................................................................3
Eligibility of Articles and Article Selection................................................................................5
Inclusion Criteria ........................................................................................................................5
Exclusion Criteria.......................................................................................................................6
Protocol for Abstract/ Title Screening.........................................................................................7
Protocol for Full Text Review.....................................................................................................7
Quality Analysis..........................................................................................................................8
Data Extraction ..........................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES ....................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Obesity is one of the medical condition which leads to deposition of body fat in the adipose
tissues of the organs. Obesity at any age increases the chances of coronary heart diseases, type 1 and
2 diabetes, insomnia and disturbed sleep, rheumatoid arthritis and cancer. Generally an individual is
considered to be obese if his/her basal metabolic index exceeds the range of 30 kg/m2. Basal
metabolic index is calculated by dividing the body weight with square of person's height in meters
(Appleton and Seaborn, 2013). The main reason behind obesity and overweight children and adult
is excessive intake of oily and junk food, lack of exercise and physical fitness and susceptibility to
certain genes in the body. Some exceptional cases of obesity are also caused due to endocrine
disorders, drug interactions and mental state of an individual.
UK is ranked as the second highest proportion of individual suffering from obesity and
overweight under the age group of 5-13 years. Recent study suggested that more than 23% of
youngsters in the age group of 7-12 years were reported to be overweight in UK (Druet and et.al,
2012). In yet another study the basal metabolic rate of 300 students from a school was calculated
and it was reported that 56% of girls among 300 pupils were found to be obese. Overweight and
obese children of UK reported that difference in dietary habits and improper daily schedules were
the reasons for there obesity (Obese or Overweight, 2016).
The current research protocol on obesity in children in UK will focus on strategies which
should be implemented to prevent obesity and overweight in early stages of life. The document will
also include information, various evidences and provisions to overcome effects of obesity in
children.
Review Objective
To systematically analyse the theoretical of research based on obesity in children in UK. The
assessment will be based on documents and data collected from various sources and relevant
websites in order to reduce the obesity prevalence rate in UK. The study will be conducted through
cohort, case control and qualitative analysis so that an array of empirical and statistical data is
obtained.
Methods
Article Identification
The purpose of the ongoing research protocol will be achieved by retrieving data from
authenticated source and publications (Ekpanyaskul, Sithisarankul and Wattanasirichaigoon, 2013).
It will include books, journals, articles and online data from different sources such as Medline,
PubMed, Web-MD, Bio-Med central, British healthcare and nursing index, Global health library,

Science direct, Google scholar and Emerald insight. All these publication sources contains articles
and journals based on healthcare, biomedical sciences, life science and various anatomical and
physiological changes in a human body (Gerhard and et.al, 2013).
TERM 1 Increasing rate of Obesity in UK
TERM 2 High density lipo-protein
TERM 3 Basal metabolic rate
TERM 4 Hypertension and heart diseases.
TERM 5 Cholesterol and low density lipo-protein.
Articles and databases Description of the databases
Medline Medline includes more than 25 million literatures based
on life science and biomedical research. Medline offers
access to all the articles and journals without subscription
(Gogonea, Gerstenecker and Malet, 2013). Medline
publication also provides online bibliographic articles on
several topics such coronary heart diseases, epidemic
infections and health research.
PubMed PubMed contains a wide variety of articles and journals
based on healthcare, medical physiology, anatomical
structures and different health issues. It has more than 30
million literature review and databases which can be
accessed easily (Gutierrez, Rosenberg and Newton, 2014).
Web-MD Web-MD is one of the oldest publication based on
different types of medicines used to cure diseases such as
rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis, knee pain, malaria,
tuberculosis, AIDS and heart ailments (Hassan, Wahba and
Ibrahim, 2015). It also contains articles related to
geriatrics and paediatric.
Bio-medical central Bio-medical central is regarded as one of the most popular
UK based publication house which covers articles and
journals on all health related topics (Jauch-Chara and
Oltmanns, 2014). The main areas of specializations are
cancer, tuberculosis, sexually transmitted diseases, teenage
pregnancies and mental well-being. Bio-medical central

provides free access to all the information.
British healthcare index British healthcare and nursing index accounts for more
than 500 books, articles and journals based on various
healthcare issues (Lüscher and Fogelman, 2014). For
better understanding and accessibility, all the information
is published in English(UK) language.
Global health library The global health library is one of the library that provides
access to all the healthcare information in electronic form
and print media.
Science direct Science direct contains more than 4000 journals and
35000 e-books based on medical research and analysis.
The main drawback of science direct is that it do not
provide access to all the information without subscription
(Ng, Fleming and Abraham, 2014).
Eligibility of Articles and Article Selection.
In every research or clinical trial protocol it is very important to adopt certain eligibility
criteria for studying any types of disease or medical condition. All the eligibility criteria differ with
different types of studies and research protocols (Lüscher and Fogelman, 2014). The selected article
for study should include all the necessary details and characteristics of participants who are the part
of protocol study. Eligibility criteria and article selection contains inclusion and exclusion variables
which comprises name, age, gender, medical and family history, current health state, infected
diseases and ongoing medications related to the disease.
The prime eligibility of selection of articles involves keeping all the participant's and study
volunteers healthy and safe. They also help in making the study more easy and comfortable by
selecting volunteers who represents the research protocol in the best possible way (Ogden, Carroll
and Flegal, 2014). After, reviewing the selected article according to eligibility rules all the work is
cited and reviewed additionally.
Inclusion Criteria
 Design: A systematic review and meta analysis of different types of studies is carried out
which includes cohort, nested case control, cardiovascular trial follow up study. All these
studies are conducted to measure the novel risk factors and Framingham variables in an

individual (Schmidt, 2016). Appropriate measurement of Framingham variables include age,
sex, blood pressure, cholesterol content, nicotine content, LDL and HDL values and range of
hypertension.
 Rationale: Insufficient information about the severity of obesity and overweight in children
exists in UK. Due to poor health, obesity concern and scarcity of financial resources all the
research and clinical protocols are not completed successfully (UK children becoming obese
at younger ages, 2016).
 Outcomes: The outcomes of obesity in children in UK includes increase in weight,
deposition and accumulation of fats n adipose tissues, Elevation and decrease in density
levels of cholesterol in body, hyper and hypo tension (What causes Childhood obesity, ?
2016). It can also lead to development of several cardiac disorders such as coronary heart
failure, myocardial infraction and congestive heart diseases.
 Definitions: The very common keywords and definitions based on obesity in children are
overweight, increased blood pressure, heart palpitations, low and high density of cholesterol
content, Framingham variable, fatty acids and glycerol values. It also includes congestive
and coronary heart disorders, heart attack, myocardial infraction, obstructive sleep patterns,
insomnia and change in endocrine gland hormones (Schmidt, 2016).
 Participant's/Samples: The individuals who are selected for conducting the research
protocol should be healthy and safe in order to complete the initiated study. All the
individuals who are involved in the study should be below 18 years as the study is based on
obesity in children in UK. The study or research protocol should consider children who are
affected with obesity at early stage of life. Individuals who are also suffering from various
health issues due to over weight can also be selected. All these study volunteers will
represent the clinical protocol or research in a better way (Lüscher and Fogelman, 2014).
Exclusion Criteria
Any article or journal which do not meet the respective condition or intervention related to
the specific topic is excluded from the research protocol. The reviewer sets out strongly justifies
reason for exclusion of different articles. If the article is unable to provide the necessary information
or empirical data related to the study then the article will not be included for research and analysis.
If the effect which is produced by participant's or samples is not easily interpreted then the study
eliminates those particular information (Ogden, Carroll and Flegal, 2014). Certain potentially
justified reasons are also reviewed by the examiner. If the individual participant is not ready to
adhere to a particular study he/she will be excluded from the protocol. Other reasons can be

incomplete follow-up and lack of reliable and necessary information.
Based on these criteria, the examiner excluded all those articles which were found to be
insignificant in accordance with the ongoing research. Documents whose data and information was
not printed or processed in English language were also rejected by the reviewer. All the articles
which were published before 2010 were excluded according to the exclusion criteria (Lüscher and
Fogelman, 2014).
Protocol for Abstract/ Title Screening
In accordance with the above mentioned inclusion criteria, 5 different questions are framed
based on the current protocol study. Depending on the answers to those questions further reviewing
is carried out (Ogden, Carroll and Flegal, 2014). If all the questions are answered satisfactorily then
the abstractive study is reviewed additionally. Questions related to the research protocol are
mentioned below.
 Are all the individuals and participants selected for conducting the study belongs to UK?
 Does the study include any participant who is more than 18 years of age? Does the study
included children of both the genders?
 Is the given study conducted in accordance to the above mentioned criteria? (Schmidt,
2016).
 Does the article depict the cases of obesity, overweight, high and low blood pressure, heart
palpitations and other congestive heart disorders?
 If the children with obesity, overweight, high content of cholesterol, patients of heart disease
and obstructive sleep patterns are reported is there any clinical manifestation or rationale
that the existence of obese patients is recorded and reported in the population of UK?
Protocol for Full Text Review
According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, several questions are designed which will
help in full text review of the research protocol. The results of the question can be negative as well
as positive. If the first two question of the review are answered yes then, article will be promoted
for data extraction process (Lüscher and Fogelman, 2014). If the third answer of the study is also
answered positively then the current article will be excluded from the research protocol and will be
kept in records for future references. The questions for Protocol for Full Text Review are as
follows.
 Does the population of obese children included in the study matches all the inclusion

criteria which has been specified in the abstract/ title screening?
 Does the article also include non- obese children from UK? If yes, is there any empirical
data which depicts these individuals in the research protocol?
 Is the study based on nested case control study criteria in which non obese children are
selected? If yes the following article is irrelevant for the ongoing study, hence, should be
excluded.
Quality Analysis
Each article which is selected by the examiner will be analysed with the help of objective
and subjective methodologies in order to check the prevalence of studies, The objective and
subjective analysis includes questions such as intrinsic and extrinsic validity, random and
continuous sampling techniques details of members selected for the study. The array of empirical
and statistical data collected from various articles should be accurate and precise (Ogden, Carroll
and Flegal, 2014). It should also be according to the inclusion criteria followed by the research
protocol. According to literature reviews and methodological standards all quality of research is
examined adequately.
Data Extraction
After selecting and differentiating articles for inclusion criteria, Two analysers will
separately monitor all the articles which are used for data extraction. The article's and the study
material contains two basic forms One is standard and the other is pre-formulated forms (Lüscher
and Fogelman, 2014). The standard form will comprise study design, population included in the
study, size of the study, statistical data of patients, study dates, terminology related to sexual health
and diseases. It will also contain relative incidence rate of obese children in a particular area,
comparative frequency of all the obese children in UK.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Appleton, S.L. and Seaborn, C.J., 2013. Diabetes and cardiovascular disease outcomes in the
metabolically healthy obese phenotype a cohort study. Diabetes care. 36(8). pp.2388-2394.
Druet, C. and et.al., 2012. Prediction of childhood obesity by infancy weight gain. Springer.
Ekpanyaskul, C., Sithisarankul, P. and Wattanasirichaigoon, S., 2013. Overweight/obesity and
related factors among Thai medical students. Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health. 25(2).
pp.170-180.
Gerhard, G.S. and et.al., 2013. Next-generation sequence analysis of genes associated with obesity
and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease-related cirrhosis in extreme obesity. Human heredity.
75(2-4). pp.144-151.
Gogonea, V., Gerstenecker, G.S. and Malet, H., 2013. The low resolution structure of nascent high
density lipoprotein reconstituted with DMPC with and without cholesterol reveals a
mechanism for particle expansion. Journal of Lipid ResearcH. 45(12).pp.890-895.
Gutierrez, M.J., Rosenberg, N.L. and Newton, R.S., 2014. Efficacy and Safety of ETC-1002, a
Novel Investigational Low-Density Lipoprotein-Cholesterol–Lowering Therapy for the
Treatment of Patients With Hypercholesterolemia and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.
Arteriosclerosis, thrombosis, and vascular biology. 34(3). pp.676-683.
Hassan, N.E., Wahba, S.A. and Ibrahim, T.S., 2015. Eating Habits and Lifestyles of Citizens of UK.
Springer International.
Jauch-Chara, K. and Oltmanns, K.M., 2014. Obesity–A neuropsychological disease? Systematic
review and neuropsychological model. Progress in neurobiology. 114. pp.84-101.
Lüscher, T.F. and Fogelman, A.M., 2014. Different levels of cholesterol density. Cengage.
Ng, M., Fleming, T. and Abraham, J.P., 2014. Global, regional, and national prevalence of
overweight and obesity in children and adults during 1980–2013: a systematic analysis for the
Global Burden of Disease Study 2013. The Lancet. 384(9945). pp.766-781.
Ogden, C.L., Carroll, M.D. and Flegal, K.M., 2014. Prevalence of childhood and adult obesity in
the United States, 2011-2012. Jama. 311(8). pp.806-814.
Schmidt, J., 2016. Diet, Body Types, Inequality and Gender: Discourses on ‘Proper Nutrition’in
German Magazines and Newspapers. The Rise of Obesity in Europe: A Twentieth Century
Food History. 12(5). pp.125-128.
Online
Obese or Overweight. 2016. [Online] Available through:
<http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/may/07/one-quarter-british-children-overweight-
obese-study>. [Accessed on 4th March 2016].
UK children becoming obese at younger ages. 2016. [Online] Available through:
<http://www.bbc.com/news/health-32797769>. [Accessed on 4th March 2016].
What causes Childhood obesity?. 2016. [Online] Available through: <https://www.more-
life.co.uk/Default.aspx?PageName=Childhood+Obesity>. [Accessed on 4th March 2016].