Pragmatic Online Program tied to Long-Term Success in Primary Care Weight Loss: JAMA

The key findings of the study were:

• Among 540 participants, the mean 3-month weight loss was 3.60 kg.

• At 12 months, participants in the monthly and refresher maintenance groups regained significantly less weight compared to the control group (0.37 kg and 0.45 kg vs. 1.28 kg, respectively).

• This trend persisted for 24 months, indicating sustained benefits of maintenance interventions.

• In the per-protocol analysis of 253 participants, mean weight loss at 12 months was 6.19 kg, with less weight regained in the monthly and refresher maintenance groups compared to the control group.

The study demonstrates that a 12-month automated, online, behavioral obesity treatment program, coupled with active maintenance interventions, produces clinically significant weight loss over 2 years in primary care patients with overweight or obesity. These findings emphasize the importance of ongoing maintenance interventions to prevent weight regain and highlight the potential of scalable, technology-based approaches in addressing obesity in primary care settings.

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