Factors influencing adults to drop out of intensive lifestyle interventions for weight loss.

Reducing ≥5% of body weight can decrease the risk of developing chronic diseases in adults with excess weight. Although Intensive Lifestyle Interventions (ILIs) that include cognitive-behavioral techniques to improve physical activity and eating habits are the best approach for losing weight, the failure to retain participants is a barrier to their successful implementation. We aimed to investigate the factors influencing adults to drop out of ILIs for weight loss at six months. We conducted retrospective multiple logistic regression analysis of 268 participants with excess weight (body mass index ≥ 25 kg/m2) from a multicenter study (n = 237, in-person ILI in five clinics, delivered by nutrition interns), and a randomized controlled trial (n = 31, one online ILI, delivered by a master's degree student). The same research team conducted both studies in Northern Mexico, using the same intervention components, and identical instruments and techniques to collect the data. We found that older participants (≥50 years) were less likely to drop out of the ILI for weight loss compared to participants <35 years old (OR = 0.34, 95% CI = 0.16-0.70). For each unit increase in the bodily pain scale of the SF-36 (less perceived pain), the risk of dropping out decreased by 2% (OR = 0.98, 95% CI = 0.97, 0.996), while a change in the interventionist during the 6-month intervention more than doubled the risk of dropping out (OR 2.25, 95% CI = 1.23-4.14). Retention in ILIs may be improved by ensuring that the same interventionist remains during the six-month intervention. In addition, ILIs may need further tailoring for younger ages and for participants with higher perceived pain.

Weight loss is hard. The best way to do it is to enroll in an intervention that includes frequent sessions with a health coach who uses cognitive-behavioral techniques to help participants improve their eating and physical activity habits. Retaining participants in these types of intervention is a challenge for health practitioners and researchers. Our objective was to identify the factors that increase the participants' risk of dropping out of the intervention. We analyzed the data of 268 Mexican adults who participated in studies that evaluated intensive lifestyle interventions for weight loss. We found that participants who are younger, experience more pain, and whose health coaches are replaced before the intervention is completed have a higher risk of dropping out of the intervention. By accounting for these factors when designing the intervention, we could increase the chances that participants stay in the intervention until the end. This way they are more likely to be successful in losing weight.

Lifestyle intervention for obesity: a call to transform the clinical care delivery system in Mexico.

Obesity and its comorbidities have become the most important public health problems for Latin America. In Mexico obesity has increased dramatically to the point where the government has declared it an epidemiological emergency. The most recent national data showed overweight and obesity affects 72.5% of adults, or around 56 million Mexicans. Most Mexican adults with obesity are undiagnosed. According to data derived from a national representative survey, only 20% of adults with BMI >30 kg/m2 were diagnosed with obesity by a health provider. Likewise, only 8% of individuals with obesity had received treatment for obesity. Interventions offered in the Mexican health care delivery system generally consist of traditional consultations with recommendations on diet and exercise, visits are monthly to quarterly, and validated behavior change protocols are not used. Evidence from clinical trials has shown that weight loss with this type of treatment is generally less than 1 kg per year. In contrast, intensive lifestyle interventions - protocols focusing on achieving changes in diet, physical activity, and moderate weight loss using behavioral strategies with weekly or bi-weekly sessions for the first 3 to 6 months, and a maintenance phase with trained interventionists - as implemented in the Diabetes Prevention Program and the Look AHEAD studies achieved weight loss of 7-9% at one year. Additionally, translation studies of these interventions to the community and to real-world clinical practice have achieved weight loss of around 4%. Adaptations of intensive lifestyle interventions have been implemented in the United States, both in clinical practice and in the community, and this type of intervention represents a potential model to combat obesity in Mexico and other Latin American countries. It is essential that primary care providers in Mexico implement clinical practice guidelines based on the best evidence available as discussed here to effectively treat obesity. The authors make recommendations to improve the treatment of obesity in the clinical care delivery system in Mexico using intensive lifestyle interventions.