[Probesci strategy: a cheaper therapeutic approach for obese patients]. / Estrategia probesci: un abordaje terapéutico de menor coste para el paciente obeso.

Obesity has become epidemic in Western countries. From clinical practice, obestity may be considered as a disease characterized by an excess of body fat mass, but patients usually demonstrate different responses to the same therapeutic strategy. It could be possible that the latter may be a consecuence of different pathophysiological factors among obese patients. Therefore, a detailed and thorough phenotyping of patients may enable clinitians to establish groups of patients that may respond in a homogeneous and effective way to a specific treatment for obesity. However, this type of approach can be especially time-consuming and may increase costs. In this study we describe the "PROBESCI" strategy, which is a novel system of studying the obese patient at the first visit, performed in groups of patients, aimed to the collection and analysis of data in order to categorize phenotypic profiles which may achive homogeneous responses to a specific therapy. We also analyze the costs of this new strategy compared to those of an individual consultation, showing a decrease of 58% for the first visit, and of 21% of the total costs throughout treatment.

Estrategia probesci: un abordaje terapéutico de menor coste para el paciente obeso / Probesci strategy: a cheaper therapeutic approach for obese patients

Desde la experiencia clínica todas las evidencias hacen suponer que la obesidad, epidemia que amenaza la Salud Pública de los países más ricos de la Tierra, se presenta como un síndrome que abarca distintas enfermedades, todas ellas con un rasgo común, el exceso de grasa corporal, pero con respuestas clínicas claramente diferenciadas ante la misma estrategia terapéutica. Si las respuestas son tan heterogéneas es que la etiopatogenia también lo es, por lo que un estudio fenotípico exhaustivo ayudaría a establecer grupos clínicos que presumiblemente tendrían una respuesta más homogénea ante el mismo tratamiento. En este caso el abordaje y manejo terapéutico de los distintos grupos clínicos permitiría diversificar el tratamiento y posiblemente, mejorar su efectividad. El gran inconveniente para llevar a la práctica un estudio fenotípico exhaustivo es el elevado coste, por el consumo de tiempos recursos humanos que exige, lo que es con frecuencia inviable. En este estudio se describe la "estrategia PROBESCI" como un sistema organizativo de estudio y recogida de datos que sistematiza, estandariza y caracteriza la información constituyendo la base para la consiguiente clasificación y establecimiento de perfiles fenotípicos dentro de la obesidad. Es una nueva modalidad de consulta inicial en grupo, de valoración del paciente obeso, que ha demostrado su viabilidad. Se estudian los costes de esta nueva modalidad, comparándolos con los de la consulta clásica y se demuestra que supone un gran ahorro, ya que disminuye un 58% los costes de la consulta inicial y un 21% los costes totales del tratamiento (AU)

Obesity has become epidemic in Western countries. From clinical practice, obestity may be considered as a disease characterized by an excess of body fat mass, but patients usually demonstrate different responses to the same therapeutic strategy. It could be possible that the latter may be a consequence of different pathophysiological factors among obese patients. Therefore, a detailed and thorough phenotyping of patients may enable clinitians to establish groups of patients that may respond in a homogeneous and effective way to a specific treatment for obesity. However, this type of approach can be especially time-consuming and may increase costs. In this study we describe the "PROBESCI" strategy, which is a novel system of studying the obese patient at the first visit, performed in groups of patients, aimed to the collection and analysis of data in order to categorize phenotypic profiles which may achive homogeneous responses to a specific therapy. We also analyze the costs of this new strategy compared to those of an individual consultation, showing a decrease of 58% for the first visit, and of 21% of the total costs throughout treatment (AU)