Effects of Teleintervention Maintenance Programs for Children (Age 6-12) and Adolescents (Age 13-18) With Overweight or Obesity-Promoting a Healthy Lifestyle: A Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND: Weight management and maintenance of healthy habits are crucial in combating paediatric obesity. This systematic review examines outcomes beyond BMI in teleintervention maintenance programmes, with a focus on sustaining a healthy lifestyle. METHODS: A PubMed, LIVIVO and Web of Science search was conducted for publications between 2012 and 4 November 2025 to identify primary studies evaluating teleintervention maintenance programmes of at least 12 weeks' duration, delivered to children and adolescents with overweight or obesity following structured obesity treatment. We extracted healthy lifestyle parameters (e.g., quality of life), behaviour change (e.g., diet) and clinician-reported outcomes (e.g., BMI). Quality assessment was tailored to study type. As data did not permit meta-analysis, we performed a narrative synthesis. RESULTS: Screening 2543 articles yielded 6 RCTs and 2 pre-post studies. Findings highlight improvements in psychosocial outcomes (e.g., social well-being), lifestyle modifications in daily choices (e.g., dietary patterns) and behaviours (e.g., screen time), and statistically significant outcomes including reductions in body fat percentage, metabolic profile improvements, cardiovascular enhancements and BMI stabilisation. Feasibility insights were also gained. CONCLUSION: Teleintervention maintenance programmes following structured paediatric obesity treatment were associated with stabilisation of previously achieved weight-related and behavioural gains, rather than greater weight loss than comparator care, alongside consistently high feasibility and substantial reductions in healthcare visits and cost. Given the heterogeneity of designs and outcomes, findings should be interpreted as directional rather than pooled effect estimates, and a human component may be necessary to sustain them.