More participants in the coaching group maintained weight loss of at least 5 percent at 24 months
TUESDAY, Nov. 12, 2019 (HealthDay News) — An electronic health record (EHR)-based weight maintenance intervention coupled with coaching is associated with less weight regain compared with EHR-based care alone, according to a study published online Nov. 12 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Molly B. Conroy, M.D., M.P.H., from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, and colleagues examined the benefit of coaching in an EHR-based weight maintenance intervention among adults with a body mass index of ≥25 kg/m² and intentional weight loss of at least 5 percent in the previous two years. A total of 194 participants were randomly assigned to either EHR tools (tracking group) or EHR tools plus coaching (coaching group); 80 participants in the coaching group and 77 in the tracking group completed the trial.
The researchers found that mean weight regain was 2.1 ± 0.62 kg and 4.9 ± 0.63 kg in the coaching and tracking groups, respectively, at 24 months. In the linear mixed model, the between-group difference in weight changes at 24 months was significant (−2.86 kg). Sixty-five and 50 percent of participants in the coaching and tracking groups, respectively, maintained weight loss of at least 5 percent at 24 months.
“The incremental addition of coaching and real-time progress reports to EHR-based tracking tools was more effective than EHR-based tracking tools alone in achieving desired weight outcomes at 24 months in a group of primary care patients with prior intentional weight loss,” the authors write.
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