developed by researchers at Brown University.
Primary care doctors offered the free obesity treatment program during routine care. Each week, people reported weight changes and activity and calorie consumption; attended online lessons; and received personalized feedback.
The 464 people who took part for at least 1 week lost an average of 5% of their body weight. And those who followed the plan all 12 weeks lost an average of 7%.
The researchers point out this short-term weight loss was achieved without any face-to-face counseling, which can limit weight management in busy primary care settings.
“Obesity is a highly stigmatized condition,” says lead investigator J. Graham Thomas, PhD.
People take part in the Rx Weight Loss program in the privacy of their own homes. He says this not only makes it more convenient but could be an advantage for people who feel uncomfortable managing their weight around others.
Ideally, health care providers could offer the online program as an opportunity to patients “as opposed to something punitive,” says Dr. Thomas, a researcher at the Weight Control and Diabetes Research Center at Miriam Hospital in Providence, R.I.
The study was published online in the journal Obesity.
In three previous controlled clinical trials led by the same research team, the weight-loss program was linked to average weight losses of 4.2% to 5.8%. In the current study, the researchers were not directly involved, and Dr. Thomas says he was encouraged that the doctor-led initiative led to similar results.
About 11 pounds lost
Patients were offered the program during routine care by doctors in the Rhode Island Primary Care Physicians Corporation, which includes 100 doctors at 60 sites. To be eligible, people had to be 18-75 years old, have Internet access, be fluent in English, and have a body mass index (BMI) of 25 kg/m2 or greater.
The average age of the people in the study was 53, 70% were women, and the average BMI was 36.2.
A BMI of 25 or above means you are overweight, while those with a BMI of 30 or higher are considered obese.
The average 5.1% decrease in body weight at 12 weeks translated to just more than 11 pounds of average weight loss.
‘Very encouraging’
The results of the study are “very encouraging,” says Gareth R. Dutton, PhD, who was not affiliated with the study.
Previous strategies had limits, he says.
“Fully automated interventions that have no staff contact with participants often achieve modest weight loss,” says Dr. Dutton, a professor of medicine and investigator in the Nutrition Obesity Research Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Weight-loss programs recommended by primary care doctors have often performed even worse, he says.
“Weight-loss interventions delivered through primary care are challenging because of many barriers, including limited resources and time,” says Dr. Dutton, who is also lead investigator of a study that aims to enroll 400 primary care patients to compare daily self-weighing with standard care.
Letting doctors and their staff refer patients to an evidence-based weight-loss program has great potential, he says.