Strengths and limitations
obesity
OBESITY
This is the largest RCT assessing a parent program for preschool-aged children with obesity. The sample is heterogenous, with most families reporting low or median incomes and diverse ethnic origin, which strengthens the generalizability of our results. A unique feature of this study is the long-term follow-up, which provides insight into what happens during and after a structured obesity intervention. Although 45% of the data at 48 months was derived from medical records, sensitivity analysis showed relatively consistent trends in all groups. The use of a single electronic medical chart system in the Stockholm region along with standardized measurement procedures carried out by well-trained medical personnel leaves little reason to question the validity of these data. Missing data occurred in 30% of participants, which is similar to other long-term follow-up studies; however, 13.6% dropouts occurred before treatment start. To handle missing data, we used what is considered the best approach under the assumption of missing at random [