Eleven studies (n=13,388 children weighed) plus two additional studies (n=252 children weighed for one study) that reported on human resource implications of monitoring and attitudes to monitoring were reported in the review. The analysis focused on five studies (n=2,203) that reported on the diagnostic performance of indices of overweight and obesity. None of the studies were controlled trials and none assessed the effectiveness of monitoring.
Study quality: The five studies included in the analysis met between 5 and 9 of the 12 QUADAS criteria and did not meet the National Screening Committee (NSC) criteria for monitoring in individual children.
BMI was used most often to measure overweight and obesity. Sensitivity analysis for diagnostic accuracy ranged between 0.00 and 0.94 and specificity ranged between 0.83 and 1.00. Sensitivity and specificity analyses for diagnostic accuracy of weight ranged between 0.17 and 0.58 (sensitivity) and 0.95 and 0.98 (specificity) and for skinfold measures between 0.23 and 0.97 (sensitivity) and 0.82 and 1.00 (specificity). CIs were reported. Significant heterogeneity between studies was reported.