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RESEARCH PRODUCT

An E-Health System for Treatment of Childhood Obesity

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description

Obesity is one of the greatest public health challenges of the 21st century and the most prevalent health problem among children in Europe. Treatment is complex due to the multiple causes of obesity that include many dimensions of children’s lives, such as nutritional habits, physical activity, and lifestyle. E-health technologies can be useful in this area; they may improve health care delivery and acceptability, facilitate the provision of interventions to wider populations, and improve treatment efficacy by taking advantage of new technologies such as the Internet and mobile technologies. The objective of this chapter is to describe an e-health platform called ETIOBE. It comprises three complementary applications connected in real time that support different components of weight loss treatment: the Clinical Support System (CSS), the Home Support System (HSS), and the Mobile Support System (MSS). It was designed to treat childhood obesity by improving treatment adherence, promoting the mechanisms of self-control in patients, obtaining the maintenance of patients’ achievements (reducing body weight), and preventing relapses by establishing healthy life habits.