An observational study in Obesity, Adolescent, Stress and Physical Activity, sponsored by University of California, Irvine. Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to female participants aged 13 Years to 17 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-03-13.
Sponsored by University of California, Irvine · Observational
Among 558 studies in Pediatric Obesity with a site in United States — 76 open to participants now, 111 under way, 3 of them phase 3. Pediatric Obesity · United States.
Among the 558 studies in Pediatric Obesity with a site in United States, this one is the 24th largest by enrollment of the 81 observational ones that give a count, is one of 46 that started in 2017, is one of 82 observational ones, and was the 245th registered.
1,129 studies on the registry are indexed under Pediatric Obesity; 187 are open to participants now.
Browse Pediatric Obesity studies →76 of the 558 studies in Pediatric Obesity with a site in United States are open now. Recruiting first, the newest first:
Stanford University · Sites in United States
Children's Hospital Los Angeles · Sites in United States
Virginia Commonwealth University · Sites in United States
University of Michigan · Sites in United States
Russell McCulloh, MD · Sites in United States
A study can be open while its sites in United States have not opened yet or have stopped. Only those recruiting at a site in United States →
Of the 124 Pediatric Obesity studies recruiting now, 19 (15%) set no upper age limit and 103 (83%) stop at 75 or younger; 114 take children under 18; 69 take healthy volunteers.
This study: 13 Years to 17 Years · female · healthy volunteers too.
The full table on the hub →This tab as a report to print or save as PDF → With an account.
558 studies; the count open now beside each. This study's row is marked.
A study in two phases is counted once above. Listed by phase, each with its combined phases: Phase 1 13 · Phase 2 28 · Phase 3 10 · Phase 4 11
First in 1998; this study’s year is marked. 46 started in 2017.
This study's enrollment of 258 is above the median of 180 across 235 observational studies indexed under Pediatric Obesity.
Median enrollment 95 across the 475 interventional studies, 120 across the 81 observational. Of the 417 that completed or were terminated, 116 (28%) have results posted.
This tab as a report to print or save as PDF → With an account.
7 of 558 have an industry lead sponsor. The 10 most frequent:
University of California, Irvine is the lead sponsor of 476 studies on the registry; 98 are open to participants now.
Of its 41 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 30 (73%) have results posted.
University of California, Irvine has 1 study filed under Pediatric Obesity — fewer than ten, so there is no comparison to draw.
38 of the studies in Pediatric Obesity with a site in United States that are under way reach primary completion within a year, 0 of them phase 3. Phase 3 first, then by date:
| Study | Primary completion |
|---|---|
| NCT04974554Medical University of South CarolinaFIT Families Multicomponent Obesity Intervention for African American Adolescents | 2026-11-30 |
| NCT06810557Temple UniversityBrief Behavioral Sleep Intervention for Obesity Prevention in Primary Care | 2026-11-30 |
| NCT05067621Yale UniversitySemaglutide Effects in Obese Youth With Prediabetes/New Onset Type 2 Diabetes and Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease | 2026-12 |
| NCT04128995Children's Hospital Medical Center, CincinnatiSurgical or Medical Treatment | 2026-12 |
| NCT04752293Wake Forest University Health SciencesPediatric Hypertension and the Renin-Angiotensin SystEm (PHRASE) | 2026-12 |
Among the 558 studies in Pediatric Obesity with a site in United States, from their registry updates:
This tab as a report to print or save as PDF → With an account.
The study will examine the mechanisms linking race, stress and biobehavioral factors to energy balance and obesity in both natural and controlled environments in African-American and Caucasian adolescent females. A Hispanic/Latina cohort has recently been added with permission for the sponsor.
Obesity is one of the most serious public health problems in the US; its prevalence has tripled in the last three decades and is associated with a range of short- and long-term medical and psychosocial problems. Adolescence is a critical period for the development and persistence of obesity, and is associated with changes in diet, physical activity and fitness, fat distribution and insulin sensitivity. There are racial and sex-specific disparities in the prevalence and burden of obesity. African-American (AA) females have the highest rates of obesity, and the clustered risk factors for coronary heart disease and metabolic syndrome are twice that of AA males. The reasons for racial and sex-specific disparities in the prevalence and burden of obesity are not well understood. AA experience higher stress levels than Non-Hispanic Whites (NHW) due to economic and social inequalities, and the effect of stress on energy-dense diet and adiposity is more prominent in females. A better understanding of the mechanisms that link stress to obesity, particularly during adolescence when high rates of obesity, increased stressful experiences and stronger behavioral and physiological responses to stress emerge, will contribute to new clinical guidelines for reducing obesity and associated medical conditions in AA females.
The Physiological stress system affects obesity and mediates its adaptive functions via hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Prolonged stress-induced glucocorticoid secretion promotes the consumption of energy-dense diet (EI) and abdominal fat deposition both directly and indirectly through its effects on metabolic hormones. Stress also reduces physical activity and alters energy balance. The proposed study will examine the effects of stress and HPA axis on EI and physical activity-related energy expenditure in 100 AA and 100 NHW adolescent females. The effects on EI will be assessed in two contexts, the natural environment and under controlled conditions incorporating a standardized psychosocial stressor. Stress will be assessed in the natural environment as multiple domains (i.e., individual, family and social), and several indices of the HPA axis will be obtained to represent diurnal variation, its status over 12-15 weeks and reactivity to stress. Obesity-related parameters will be measured through anthropometry, fat distribution and cardio-metabolic biomarkers.
Associations among stress, HPA activity/function, energy balance and obesity-related parameters will be compared between and within AA and NHW samples. In combination they will improve our understanding of the social factors and biobehavioral mechanisms of both racial and individual differences in obesity and facilitate the development of effective treatments within and across racial groups according to the principles of individualized medicine. To our knowledge, racial differences in objectively-measured diet intake and energy expenditure in response to stress, or their underlying physiological mechanisms, have not been assessed in adolescents or adults. This is an important knowledge gap in our efforts to develop better evidence-based translational obesity prevention and weight-control interventions as the traditional interventions are not effective with minority youth.
Community sample
Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.
Exclusion Criteria:
Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Weight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared. Example: 70 kg and 1.75 m gives 70 ÷ (1.75 × 1.75) ≈ 22.9.
What counts as overweight or obesity differs between countries (some use lower cut-offs), so go by the range the study states.
BMI (body mass index)
Weight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared. Example: 70 kg and 1.75 m gives 70 ÷ (1.75 × 1.75) ≈ 22.9.
What counts as overweight or obesity differs between countries (some use lower cut-offs), so go by the range the study states.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Comparison of food intake from buffet lunch after the control and stress sessions
Randomize lab session to assign each participant to a non-stress or stress condition, and reversed in the next session. Ad-libitum food intake (amount of added sugar and solid fat) during both sessions will be measured and compared.
Time frame: 7 days between the two sessions
Body mass index (BMI)
Weight (kg) and height (inches) will be used to determine BMI in kg/cm\^2
Time frame: 1 hour
Physical activity energy expenditure
Average moderate and vigorous activity (minutes) will be recorded through the Actigraph device
Time frame: 7 days
Visceral fat percent
Amount of visceral fat (percent of total fat) will be determined by dual-energy x-ray scan
Time frame: 1 hour
PDFs hosted by the registry, ClinicalTrials.gov.
Plan to share: No
Ran from Dec 2017 to primary completion in Feb 2026, 97 months.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
This study is completed, as verified in Mar 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
Get an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.
Sign in to followQuestions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.
Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.
Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.
University of California, Irvine →