Translating knowledge into action to prevent pediatric and adolescent diabesity: a meeting report

Background The obesity and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) rates are at an all-time high globally. This diabesity epidemic is increasingly impacting children and adolescents, and there is scarce evidence of interventions with favourable long-term outcomes. Purpose In order to understand the determinants of diabesity and how to address them, multiple stakeholders were invited to a meeting to discuss current state of knowledge and to help design a program to prevent pediatric and adolescent diabesity. Participants and methods The meeting was held at McMaster University on March 4th, 2015. The event involved presentations to deliver state-of-the-art knowledge about diabesity, and roundtable discussions of several domains including nutrition, physical activity, sleep, and mental health. Discussion transcripts were analyzed using NVivo. Results Forty-nine participants took part in the workshop. They included clinical healthcare professionals, public health, Aboriginal Patient Navigator, research scientists, students, and patients with family members. A total of 628 reference counts from the roundtable discussions were coded under 20 emerging themes. Participants believed that the most important elements of the program involve the provision of knowledge and education, family involvement, patient motivation, location of program delivery, and use of surveys and questionnaires for outcome measurement. Conclusion Effective pediatric and adolescent diabesity prevention programs should be conceptualized by multidisciplinary stakeholders and embrace the complexity of diabesity with multiprong interventions. This meeting provided a framework for developing such interventions.