RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Effectiveness of a 5-year school-based intervention programme to reduce adiposity and improve fitness and lifestyle in Indian children; the SYM-KEM study JF Archives of Disease in Childhood JO Arch Dis Child FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health SP 33 OP 41 DO 10.1136/archdischild-2015-308673 VO 101 IS 1 A1 Sheila Bhave A1 Anand Pandit A1 Rajiv Yeravdekar A1 Vaishali Madkaikar A1 Trushna Chinchwade A1 Nasreen Shaikh A1 Tasneem Shaikh A1 Shraddha Naik A1 Ella Marley-Zagar A1 Caroline H D Fall YR 2016 UL http://adc.bmj.com/content/101/1/33.abstract AB Design Non-randomised non-blinded school-based intervention study.Setting Two schools in the cities of Pune and Nasik, India.Participants The intervention group comprised children attending a Pune school from 7–10 years until 12–15 years of age. Two control groups comprised children of the same age attending a similar school in Nasik, and children in the Pune intervention school but aged 12–15 years at the start of the study.Intervention A 5-year multi-intervention programme, covering three domains: physical activity, diet and general health, and including increased extracurricular and intracurricular physical activity sessions; daily yoga-based breathing exercises; making physical activity a ‘scoring’ subject; nutrition education; healthier school meals; removal of fast-food hawkers from the school environs; and health and nutrition education for teachers, pupils and families.Main outcome measures Body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, physical fitness according to simple tests of strength, flexibility and endurance; diet; and lifestyle indicators (time watching TV, studying and actively playing).Results After 5 years the intervention children were fitter than controls in running, long jump, sit-up and push-up tests (p<0.05 for all). They reported spending less time sedentary (watching TV and studying), more time actively playing and eating fruit more often (p<0.05). The intervention did not reduce BMI or the prevalence of overweight/obesity, but waist circumference was lower than in the Pune controls (p=0.004).Conclusions It was possible to achieve multiple health-promoting changes in an academically competitive Indian school. These changes resulted in improved physical fitness, but had no impact on the children's BMI or on the prevalence of overweight/obesity.