• Maral DerSarkissian, Rachel H Bhak, Joanna Huang, Sarah Buchs, Francis Vekeman, B Gabriel Smolarz, Jason Brett, Rahul Ganguly, and Mei Sheng Duh.
• a Analysis Group Inc. , Boston , MA , USA.
• Curr Med Res Opin. 2017 Jun 1; 33 (6): 1105-1110.

ObjectivesCharacterize patterns of weight change among subjects with obesity.MethodsA retrospective observational longitudinal study of subjects with obesity was conducted using the General Electric Centricity electronic medical record database. Subjects who were ≥18 years old with BMI ≥30 kg/m2 (first defining index BMI), had no medical conditions associated with unintentional weight loss, and had ≥4 BMI measurements/year for ≥2.5 years were included and categorized into groups (stable weight: within <5% of index BMI; modest weight loss: ≥5 to <10% of index BMI lost; moderate weight loss: ≥10 to <15% of index BMI lost; and high weight loss: ≥15% of index BMI lost) based on weight change during 6 months following index. No interventions were considered. Patterns of weight change were then assessed for 2 years.ResultsA total of 177,743 subjects were included: 85.1% of subjects were in the stable weight, 9.3% in the modest, 2.3% in the moderate, and 3.3% in the high weight loss groups. The proportion of subjects who maintained or continued to lose weight decreased over the 2 year observation period; 11% of those with high weight loss continued to lose weight and 19% maintained their weight loss. This group had the lowest percentage of subjects who regained ≥50% of lost weight and the lowest proportion of subjects with weight cycling (defined as not continuously losing, gaining, or maintaining weight throughout the 2 year observation period relative to its beginning). This trend persisted in subgroups with class II-III obesity, pre-diabetes, and type 2 diabetes.ConclusionWeight cycling and regain were commonly observed. Subjects losing the most weight during the initial period were more likely to continue losing weight.

20 keywords...

hide…