USPSTF Updates 2012 Weight Loss Intervention Recommendations
In a new draft recommendation statement, the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) has once again recommended that providers offer or refer adults with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 kg/m2 or more to intensive behavioral interventions for weight loss.
The recommendation, which updates the USPSTF’s 2012 recommendation, is based on adequate evidence that participation in these types of interventions are associated with clinically significant improvements in weight status and reduced incidence of type 2 diabetes among adults with obesity and elevated plasma glucose.
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Furthermore, adequate evidence indicated that those who participate in behavior-based weight loss interventions tend to have less weight gain after the intervention compared with control groups.
The authors of the statement noted that, based on adequate evidence, the harms associated with behavior-based weight loss maintenance interventions in this patient population are small to none.
“The USPSTF concludes with moderate certainty that offering or referring adults with obesity to intensive, multicomponent behavioral interventions (i.e., behavior-based weight loss and weight loss maintenance interventions) has a moderate net benefit,” the authors concluded.
—Christina Vogt
Reference:
Draft recommendation statement: weight loss to prevent obesity-related morbidity and mortality in adults: behavioral interventions. US Preventive Services Task Force. https://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/Page/Document/draft-recommendation-statement/obesity-in-adults-interventions1. Accessed on February 21, 2018.