Evaluating Obesity Prevention Efforts: A Plan for Measuring Progress

490 Pages·2014·5.43 MB·English

Evaluating Obesity Prevention Efforts: A Plan for Measuring Progress
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Evaluating Obesity Prevention Efforts: A Plan for Measuring Progress

Evaluating Obesity Prevention Efforts:
A Plan for Measuring Progress

Committee on Evaluating Progress of Obesity Prevention Efforts
Food and Nutrition Board

Lawrence W. Green, Leslie Sim, Heather Breiner, Editors

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This study was supported by a grant between the National Academy of Sciences and the Michael &
Susan Dell Foundation. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this
publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations or
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Suggested citation: IOM (Institute of Medicine). 2013. Evaluating obesity prevention efforts:
A plan for measuring progress. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
Evaluating Obesity Prevention Efforts: A Plan for Measuring Progress
PREPUBLICATION COPY: UNCORRECTED PROOFS
Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Evaluating Obesity Prevention Efforts: A Plan for Measuring Progress

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Evaluating Obesity Prevention Efforts: A Plan for Measuring Progress

COMMITTEE ON EVALUATING PROGRESS OF OBESITY PREVENTION EFFORTS

LAWRENCE W. GREEN (Chair), Professor, Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Medicine,
University of California, San Francisco
CHRISTINA BETHELL, Professor, Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Oregon Health and Science Center,
Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative, Portland
RONETTE R. BRIEFEL, Senior Fellow, Mathematica Policy Research, Washington, DC
ROSS C. BROWNSON, Professor, Epidemiology, Brown School and School of Medicine, Washington
University in St. Louis
JAMIE F. CHRIQUI, Senior Research Scientist, Health Policy Center, Institute for Health Research and
Policy, University of Illinois at Chicago
STEPHEN FAWCETT, Professor, Applied Behavioral Science, Director, Work Group for Community
Health and Development, University of Kansas, Lawrence
BRIAN R. FLAY, Professor, Public Health, Co-Director, Promise Neighborhoods Research Consortium,
Oregon State University, Corvallis
DEANNA M. HOELSCHER, Director and Professor, Michael & Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living,
The University of Texas School of Public Health, Austin Regional Campus, TX
JAMES W. KRIEGER, Chief, Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention, Public Health – Seattle & King
County, WA
LAURA C. LEVITON, Senior Advisor for Evaluation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, NJ
K.M. VENKAT NARAYAN, Professor, Global Health and Epidemiology, The Rollins School of Public
Health, Emory University, GA
NICO P. PRONK, Vice President & Health Science Officer, Health Management, HealthPartners, Inc.,
MN
LORRENE RITCHIE, Director of Research, Atkins Center for Weight and Health, University of
California, Berkeley
ELSIE TAVERAS, Chief, Division of General Pediatrics, Director, Pediatric Population Health
Management, Massachusetts General Hospital and Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics and
Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston MA

Study Staff

LESLIE J. SIM, Senior Program Officer
LYNN PARKER, Scholar
HEATHER BREINER, Associate Program Officer
SARAH SIEGEL, Senior Project Assistant (from October 2012)
ELENA OVAITT, Senior Project Assistant (until August 2012)
SARAH SLIWA, Mirzayan Policy Fellow (September to November 2012)
FAYE HILLMAN, Financial Associate
ANTON L. BANDY, Senior Financial Officer
GERALDINE KENNEDO, Administrative Assistant
LINDA D. MEYERS, Director, Food and Nutrition Board (until May 2013)
CLYDE J. BEHNEY, Acting Director, Food and Nutrition Board (from May 2013)
Evaluating Obesity Prevention Efforts: A Plan for Measuring Progress
Evaluating Obesity Prevention Efforts: A Plan for Measuring Progress
REVIEWERS
This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and
technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the National Research Council’s Report
Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments
that will assist the institution in making its published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the
report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The
review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative
process. We wish to thank the following individuals for their review of this report:

David B. Allison, University of Alabama at Birmingham
Cheryl Aspy, University of Oklahoma
Jay Bernhardt, University of Florida
Don Bishop, Minnesota Department of Health
Jon Blitstein, RTI International
Jan L. Breslow, The Rockefeller University
Kelly Evenson, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Mary Kay Fox, Mathematica
Tracy Fox, Food, Nutrition, and Policy, Consultants
Robert Hiatt, University of California, San Francisco
Pam Schwartz, Kaiser Permanente
Glorian Sorensen, Harvard University
Adolfo Valadez, Aetna
Karen Webb, University of California, Berkeley
Jean Wiecha, RTI International

Although the reviewers listed above have provided many constructive comments and suggestions,
they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations nor did they see the final draft of the
report before its release. The review of this report was overseen by Eileen T. Kennedy, Tufts University,
and Caswell A. Evans, University of Illinois at Chicago. Appointed by the National Research Council
and Institute of Medicine; they were responsible for making certain that an independent examination of
this report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were
carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the authoring
committee and the institution.
Evaluating Obesity Prevention Efforts: A Plan for Measuring Progress

Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Evaluating Obesity Prevention Efforts: A Plan for Measuring Progress
Preface

The history of successful public health progress in confronting and controlling complex
threats to population health has been marked most significantly by the ability and agreement to
conduct assessments of the outbreak, conduct surveillance of the movement of the threat over
time and between places and populations, and to conduct evaluations of efforts to interrupt or
control those threats. Effective evaluations have depended on the development of consensus on
the specific indicators and measures for comparisons in time and space and between jurisdictions
with their varied policies, programs, services, cultures, as well as distinct physical and social
environments. This report attempts to offer a degree of consensus on these essential ingredients
for successful monitoring and evaluation of progress on obesity in America.
We wish to thank the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation for sponsoring this study. We
begin by thanking in particular Aliya Hussaini for her encouragement. The Foundation’s support
and vision for the role that evaluation must play in accelerating progress toward obesity
prevention offered inspiration. Its full support for urging common use of specific indicators in
such evaluation was significant.
The Committee deeply appreciates the extensive contributions of Debra Haire-Joshu, Ph.D.,
Washington University in St. Louis, who was commissioned to provide practical
recommendations on disparities, health equity, and obesity prevention to inform the decisions of
the Committee. Also, the Committee benefitted greatly from the invaluable and illuminating
assistance on evaluating the effectiveness of community-wide obesity prevention initiatives and
on common measures provided by Allen Cheadle, Ph.D., Group Health Cooperative; Suzanne
Rauzon, M.P.H., University of California, Berkeley; Carol Cahill, M.L.S., Group Health
Cooperative; Diana Charbonneau, M.I.T., Group Health Cooperative; Elena Kuo, Ph.D., Group
Health Cooperative; Lisa Schafer, M.P.H., Group Health Cooperative.
The opportunity for discussion with the individuals who made presentations and attended the
Committee’s public session (see Appendix I) was critical to the Committee’s work. We also
gained experience and insight from discussions with individuals from a variety of perspectives
and sectors including Philip Bors, Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities; Richard Conlin, Seattle
City Council; Tracy Fox, Food, Nutrition, and Policy Consultants, LLC; Casey Korba,
America’s Health Insurance Plans; Punam Ohri-Vachaspati, Arizona State University; Pam
Schwartz, Kaiser Permanente; Mary Ann Scheirer, Scheirer Consulting; Nancy Sherwood,
HealthPartners Institute for Education and Research; Sarah Strunk, Healthy Kids, Healthy
Communities; and Michael Yedidia, Rutgers University.
The Committee could not have done its work without the outstanding guidance and support
provided by the IOM staff Leslie Sim, study director; Heather Breiner, associate program officer;
and Lynn Parker, scholar. Sarah Siegel and Elena Ovaitt provided highly skilled logistical
support. Linda Meyers’ guidance and counsel were invaluable throughout our deliberations. And
last but not least, the report greatly benefited from the copyediting skills of Cori Vanchieri.

Lawrence W. Green, Chair
Committee on Evaluating Progress of Obesity Prevention Efforts