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Age, caloric intake associated with dropout in weight-loss program
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Patients aged at least 60 years and those on very low calorie diets were more likely to remain enrolled in a weight-loss program compared with those aged younger than 40 years with low BMI, depression and psychosis, according to data presented at the 19th European Congress on Obesity Meeting in Lyon, France.
Observational data on weight loss and dropout from the Itrim weight-loss program — a program used in multiple health centers throughout Sweden — were linked to national health registries.
Erik Hemmingsson, PhD, researcher in the department of medicine at Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden, and colleagues studied 8,361 consecutively enrolled patients on a 1-year weight-loss program.
Weight loss was induced by 6 to 10 weeks on a very low calorie diet (VLCD; n=3,773; BMI 34 ± 5 kg/m²; 80% women; aged 45 ± 12 years) or meal replacements (n=4,588; BMI 30 ± 4 kg/m²; 86% women; aged 50 ± 11 years), followed by a diet and exercise support program.
“Most people think that slow weight loss is preferable to rapid, but it is actually the other way around: Rapid initial weight loss is associated with a larger long-term net weight loss. Make no mistake, however, it takes a lot of hard work to keep the weight off long-term,” Hemmingsson said.
At baseline, 18% of patients were treated for hypertension, 12% for depression, 8% for cardiovascular disease, 7% for dyslipidemia, 3% for diabetes, 2% for cancer and 1% for psychosis, the researchers said.
After a brief analysis, VLCD patients’ weight change was –13.9 kg with 18% dropout, whereas weight change for those who completed meal replacements was –8.8 kg with 23% dropout, they said.
Additional analyses concluded that patients aged 40 years and younger were 4.4 times more likely to drop out than older patients (aged 60 years or older). Patients aged 50 to 59 years were 13% more likely to drop out compared with those aged older than 60 years, and patients aged 40 to 49 years were 2.5 times more likely to dropout compared with those aged older than 60 years, Hemmingsson and colleagues said.
For more information:
- Hemmingsson E. #179. Presented at: the 19th European Congress on Obesity Meeting 2012; May 9-12; Lyon, France.
Disclosure: The study was funded by Itrim International. Dr. Hemmingsson received consultancy fees from Itrim. Three of the researchers are members of Itrim’s scientific advisory board.