When you need a cheerleader for your weight loss, you don't need to look too far.
According to a new study conducted by colleagues in Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, obese patients who receive support from their physicians tend to lose more weight than those who don't.
The basis of the study is the collected data from a government-funded trial that lasted for 2 years. Called POWER (Practice-Based Opportunities for Weight Reduction), it compared three different kinds of interventions for more than 340 obese patients with an average body mass index of 36.3. The average age, meanwhile, was 54.8 years.
These interventions included self-directed control where patients used provided materials only, remote support where help is provided in any method except personal or face-to-face appointments, and in-person support, which combined both remote and face-to-face meetings, including group therapy sessions.
After 24 months, the patients answered a questionnaire, with some inquiries revolving around their relationship with their physicians.
Overall, many of the patients experienced weight loss, but they significantly differed among the interventions. Those who took the weight loss journey without any kind of support other than the reference materials lost at least 1.8 pounds and 19% of body fat.
Those who received only remote support lost 10 pounds and more than 35% of body fat while obese patients with in-person meetings lost a bit more at 11.2 pounds and dropped 41% of their body fat.
However, patients who established better relationships with their doctors lost around 111 pounds within 2 years compared to only 5 pounds of those who rated their doctors poorly.
In a press release about the results of the study, the university's medicine assistant professor Dr. Wendy Bennett notes that as weight loss programs become more popular in the market, many obese patients tend to do them on their own. She believes that their work corroborates with the previous notion that health care providers play a key role in weight loss of obese patients.
In the future, they wish to see obesity interventions where doctors can actively participate and fully supported by insurance policies.
