Background This report assesses interventions for improving dietary habits and/or increasing physical activity. It is the second review about effects of interventions for different socioeconomic groups.
Objective The objectives were to assess the effects of the following interventions: 1) to improve dietary habits among different socio-economic groups, 2) to improve dietary habits in lower socio-economic groups, 3) to increase physical activity among different socioeconomic groups, and 4) to increase physical activity in lower socio-economic groups.
Methods We searched for relevant systematic reviews and randomised controlled trials (RCTs) in international databases, and appraised and synthesized studies which fulfilled our inclusion criteria.
Results We summarized results from five systematic reviews and 14 randomized controlled trials.
The documentation does not allow us to conclude about an effect/no effect in any of the target groups.
Conclusion We identified few randomized controlled trials of high methodological quality. The systematic reviews that we found were mostly of low quality, and only a small minority of the selected studies in the reviews included randomized trials focusing on socioeconomic differences.
Keywords: Health Promotion; Healthy Diet; Exercise; Social Class.
Copyright ©2008 by The Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH).