• Andrew Osterland, Claire King, Neela Kumar, Michelle Mocarski, Abhilasha Ramasamy, Courtney Walker, Himani Darji, and Paul Godley.
• Baylor Scott & White Health, Temple, TX, USA.
• Curr Med Res Opin. 2022 Jan 1; 38 (1): 83-89.

ObjectivesTo reveal the extent of obesity in a single healthcare system and provide a blueprint for other health systems to perform similar analyses, this study describes characteristics and weight change patterns of patients classified with overweight and obesity at a large integrated delivery network (IDN) in the South-Central United States.MethodsA descriptive, observational, retrospective study was conducted using electronic medical records and claims data. Patients were ≥18 years old, body mass index (BMI) ≥27 kg/m2, and continuously enrolled in the IDN plan for ≥6 months before and ≥12 months after the index date. Demographics, comorbidities, BMI, and weight were collected. Weight changes were assessed annually, and anti-obesity medications (AOM) use was also captured.ResultsA total of 36,430 eligible patients were identified. A subset of 22,712 patients was continuously enrolled for the entire study period (mean age: 57.2) and were primarily white (83.3%) and commercially insured (54.3%). Most patients were categorized as overweight (40.1%) or obesity class I (32.5%) at baseline. At years 1 and 4 post-index, patients who maintained index weight (±3%) was 56.2% and 37.0%, respectively, whereas weight gain (≥3% increase) was 23.7% and 33.3%, respectively. AOM use (1.1%) primarily consisted of phentermine-hydrochloride (n = 114, 0.5%) and orlistat (n = 115, 0.5%).ConclusionsAn increasing proportion of patients gained weight over time, combined with low AOM use, emphasizing the need for weight-loss interventions in this population. Findings from this study provide a foundation for health systems to perform similar analyses.

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