Obesity and Caries in Young South Asian Children: A Common Risk Factor Approach
Condition: Pediatric Obesity; Early Childhood Caries
MeSH terms: Obesity; Pediatric Obesity
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      The CHALO ("Child Health Action to Lower Oral Caries and Obesity") -- from an Urdu word
      meaning "Let's go!"-is a multi-level strategy to reduce pediatric obesity and dental caries
      risk in South Asian (SA) children. Obesity and caries are the two most prominent health
      disparities of early childhood. Both caries and obesity: a) disproportionately impact
      low-income children of color, b) share common risk behaviors, i.e., feeding practices, and c)
      can most effectively be reduced or prevented prevention in infancy and early childhood. SA
      immigrant children are at high risk for both. CHALO includes both a randomized controlled
      trial (RCT) aimed at reducing risk behavior, and a Knowledge Translation project to raise
      awareness in SA lay and professional communities regarding child health risks.
    

Detailed description: 
      CHALO builds upon the team's prior research re: cariogenic (R34-DE-022282) and obesogenic
      behaviors (10, 14, 15). CHALO's intervention components-- home visits, phone support, and
      "patient navigation" to dental visits-- proved to be feasible and acceptable. In the pilot
      R34, there were promising behavioral change on all measures. CHALO builds on this work, with
      the addition of: a) sippy cups as an intervention target, b) an iPad-based dietary recall
      tool, "MySmileBuddy," c) caries and obesity data, and; d) increased intervention contacts-
      consistent with recent child obesity and caries interventions (16, 17).

      An RCT (Aim 1) will enroll 360 mothers of children 4-6 month olds from New York City (n=3)
      and New Jersey (n=2) pediatric practices in SAPPHIRE ("SA Practice Partnership for Health
      Improvement and Research"). The Community Health Worker intervention includes: a) home visits
      with mothers/families (n=6 visits over one year) and follow up telephone support; b) patient
      navigation to make/keep timely dental visits (2x by 18 months). The Knowledge Translation
      component (Aim 2) will raise awareness of child health risks in SA communities and among
      professionals who provide their care. The campaign will include both traditional and social
      media components and will be evaluated using multiple metrics.
    

Intervention name(s): Enhanced Usual Care (EUC); Intervention
Intervention type(s): Behavioral; Behavioral
Intervention description(s): Per Arm/Group Description, CHWs will provide a pamphlet and dental referral list to participants both groups.; Per Arm/Group Description, CHWs will a) conduct 6 home visits with mothers/families over a 12 month period along with follow-up phone support, and b) patient navigation support for child to receive 2 dental visits: one by 12 months of age and one by 18 months of age.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Intervention model description: randomized controlled clinical trial
Masking: Single (Outcomes Assessor)
Primary purpose: Prevention