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Weight maintenance: challenges, tools and strategies for primary care physicians.

ABSTRACT: Obesity is recognized as a chronic disease and one of the major healthcare challenges facing us today. Weight loss can be achieved via lifestyle, pharmacological and surgical interventions, but weight maintenance remains a lifetime challenge for individuals with obesity. Guidelines for the management of obesity have highlighted the role of primary care providers (PCPs). This review examines the long-term outcomes of clinical trials to identify effective weight maintenance strategies that can be utilized by PCPs. Because of the broad nature of the topic, a structured PubMed search was conducted to identify relevant research articles, peer-reviewed reviews, guidelines and articles published by regulatory bodies. Trials have demonstrated the benefit of sustained weight loss in managing obesity and its comorbidities. Maintaining 5-10% weight loss for ?1 year is known to ameliorate many comorbidities. Weight maintenance with lifestyle modification - although challenging - is possible but requires long-term support to reinforce diet, physical activity and behavioural changes. The addition of pharmacotherapy to lifestyle interventions promotes greater and more sustained weight loss. Clinical evidence and recently approved pharmacotherapy has given PCPs improved strategies to support their patients with maintenance of weight loss. Further studies are needed to assess the translation of these strategies into clinical practice.

SUBMITTER: Soleymani T

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4715703 | biostudies-other | 2016 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Weight maintenance: challenges, tools and strategies for primary care physicians.

Soleymani T T Daniel S S Garvey W T WT

Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity 20151021 1

Obesity is recognized as a chronic disease and one of the major healthcare challenges facing us today. Weight loss can be achieved via lifestyle, pharmacological and surgical interventions, but weight maintenance remains a lifetime challenge for individuals with obesity. Guidelines for the management of obesity have highlighted the role of primary care providers (PCPs). This review examines the long-term outcomes of clinical trials to identify effective weight maintenance strategies that can be ...[more]

PMID: 26490059

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Project description:ObjectiveTo examine parental perspectives/rankings of the most important weight-management clinical practices and to determine whether preferences/rankings differ when parents disagree that their child is overweight.MethodsWe performed mixed-methods analysis of a 32-question survey of parents of 2- to 18-year-old overweight children assessing parental agreement that their child is overweight, the single most important thing providers can do to improve weight status, ranking American Academy of Pediatrics-recommended clinical practices, and preferred follow-up interval. Four independent reviewers analyzed open-response data to identify qualitative themes/subthemes. Multivariable analyses examined parental rankings, preferred follow-up interval, and differences by agreement with their child's overweight assessment.ResultsThirty-six percent of 219 children were overweight, 42% obese, and 22% severely obese; 16% of parents disagreed with their child's overweight assessment. Qualitative analysis of the most important practice to help overweight children yielded 10 themes; unique to parents disagreeing with their children's overweight assessments was "change weight-status assessments." After adjustment, the 3 highest-ranked clinical practices included, "check for weight-related problems," "review growth chart," and "recommend general dietary changes" (all P < .01); parents disagreeing with their children's overweight assessments ranked "review growth chart" as less important and ranked "reducing screen time" and "general activity changes" as more important. The mean preferred weight-management follow-up interval (10-12 weeks) did not differ by agreement with children's overweight assessments.ConclusionsParents prefer weight-management strategies that prioritize evaluating weight-related problems, growth-chart review, and regular follow-up. Parents who disagree that their child is overweight want changes in how overweight is assessed. Using parent-preferred weight-management strategies may prove useful in improving child weight status.

Project description:BackgroundSince 2000, Israel has had a national program for ongoing monitoring of the quality of the primary care services provided by the country's four competing non-profit health plans. Previous research has demonstrated that quality of care has improved substantially since the program's inception and that the program enjoys wide support among health plan managers. However, prior to this study there were anecdotal and journalistic reports of opposition to the program among primary care physicians engaged in direct service delivery; these raised serious questions about the extent of support among physicians nationally.GoalsTo assess how Israeli primary care physicians experience and rate health plan efforts to track and improve the quality of care.MethodThe study population consisted of primary care physicians employed by the health plans who have responsibility for the quality of care of a panel of adult patients. The study team randomly sampled 250 primary-care physicians from each of the four health plans. Of the 1,000 physicians sampled, 884 met the study criteria. Every physician could choose whether to participate in the survey by mail, e-mail, or telephone. The anonymous questionnaire was completed by 605 physicians - 69% of those eligible. The data were weighted to reflect differences in sampling and response rates across health plans.Main findingsThe vast majority of respondents (87%) felt that the monitoring of quality was important and two-thirds (66%) felt that the feedback and subsequent remedial interventions improved medical care to a great extent. Almost three-quarters (71%) supported continuation of the program in an unqualified manner. The physicians with the most positive attitudes to the program were over age 44, independent contract physicians, and either board-certified in internal medicine or without any board-certification (i.e., residents or general practitioners). At the same time, support for the program was widespread even among physicians who are young, board-certified in family medicine, and salaried.Many physicians also reported that various problems had emerged to a great or very great extent: a heavier workload (65%), over-competitiveness (60%), excessive managerial pressure (48%), and distraction from other clinical issues (35%). In addition, there was some criticism of the quality of the measures themselves. Respondents also identified approaches to addressing these problems.ConclusionsThe findings provide perspective on the anecdotal reports of physician opposition to the monitoring program; they may well accurately reflect the views of the small number of physicians directly involved, but they do not reflect the views of primary care physicians as a whole, who are generally quite supportive of the program. At the same time, the study confirms the existence of several perceived problems. Some of these problems, such as excess managerial pressure, can probably best be addressed by the health plans themselves; while others, such as the need to refine the quality indicators, are probably best addressed at the national level. Cooperation between primary care physicians and health plan managers, which has been an essential component of the program's success thus far, can also play an important role in addressing the problems identified.

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Weight maintenance: challenges, tools and strategies for primary care physicians.

Publications

Weight maintenance: challenges, tools and strategies for primary care physicians.

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