Efficacy of Center-based Childcare to Mitigate Unhealthy Weight Gain in Preschoolers From Low-income Households During the Summer
Public ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT07583459. Field values are reproduced from the official study page; the official ClinicalTrials.gov record remains the source of truth for eligibility, enrollment, and contact information.
Data is sourced from official ClinicalTrials.gov public API records. Always review the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for the latest information.
Brief summary
Reproduced verbatim from the official ClinicalTrials.gov record. Not medical advice.
Studies show that preschool-age children are especially vulnerable to accelerated weight gain during the summer, with those from low-income households (≤185% poverty level or Medicaid eligible - the target population for this study) exhibiting the greatest risk of unhealthy weight gain. Despite numerous interventions designed to prevent OWOB, none target preschoolers during summer. For families from low-income households, attending center-based childcare is associated with a lower risk of developing OWOB by 1st grade compared to attending home-based care. Center-based childcare lowers the risk of OWOB through daily rules/routines that promote healthy behaviors. For families from low-income households, publicly funded center-based childcares (e.g., needs-based pre-K, Head Start) typically operate on an academic/school 9-month calendar (Aug-May). During summer, fewer than 30% of preschoolers attend center-based childcare. For many preschoolers from lower-income households, summer may serve as an extended period away from formal center-based childcare, because the out-of-pocket expense may prohibit attendance. This may promote unhealthy behaviors and excessive weight gain. In the majority of US states, publicly funded center-based childcare during the academic/school year for families from underserved populations is free; however, center-based childcare during the summer is an out-of-pocket expense for many of these families. Despite parents' desire for childcare during the summer, a major reason children from low-income households do not attend center-based care during summer is cost. This creates unequal access to resources and likely exacerbates health disparities for families from low-income households. Using a structural intervention approach, this study will test the impact of providing free center-based childcare in the summer. This R01 will rigorously test the impact of providing free center-based childcare during the summer on weight status of preschoolers from low-income households (≤185% of poverty level or Medicaid eligible).
Study identification
- NCT ID
- NCT07583459
- Recruitment status
- Recruiting
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Not applicable
- Enrollment
- 300 participants
Conditions and interventions
Conditions
Eligibility (public fields only)
- Age range
- 3 Years to 5 Years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepts healthy volunteers
This page does not interpret eligibility. Detailed inclusion and exclusion criteria are on the official ClinicalTrials.gov record.
Study timeline
- Start date
- Apr 30, 2026
- Primary completion
- Jun 29, 2030
- Completion
- Jun 29, 2030
- Last update posted
- Jun 10, 2026
2026 – 2030
United States locations
- U.S. sites
- 1
- U.S. states
- 1
- U.S. cities
- 1
| Facility | City | State | ZIP | Site status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of South Carolina | Columbia | South Carolina | 29208 | Recruiting |
Site contact phone numbers, emails, and investigator names are intentionally not displayed here. Open the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for site contact information.
About this trial record page
- What this page shows
- Public field values for ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT07583459, including study identification, conditions, interventions, eligibility (age, sex, healthy volunteer), timeline, and U.S. site list.
- What this page does not do
- No medical advice, eligibility judgments, treatment recommendations, study quality scoring, or AI-generated medical summaries. No site contact phone numbers, emails, or investigator names.
- Where the data comes from
- Sourced from the official ClinicalTrials.gov public API. The official record is the source of truth.
- Last refresh
- Last update posted Jun 10, 2026 · Synced Sep 4, 2026
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Open the official record
The complete protocol, eligibility criteria, and contact information for NCT07583459 live on ClinicalTrials.gov.