USPSTF Updates Weight Loss Intervention Recommendations

Adults with body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher should be offered intensive, multicomponent behavioral interventions, according to a new set of recommendations from the USPSTF.

In order to update its 2012 recommendations on the screening for obesity in adults, the USPSTF commissioned a systematic evidence review. Because screening for obesity has become routine in clinical practice, “it was not a focus of this review,” the researchers wrote. Instead, evidence on interventions for weight loss or maintenance were examined, including 80 trials evaluating behavior-based weight loss, 9 trials on behavior-based weight loss maintenance, 32 trials on pharmacotherapy-based weight loss, and 3 trials on pharmacotherapy-based weight loss maintenance.

Overall, they found adequate evidence that intensive, multicomponent behavioral interventions could significantly improve weight status and reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes in patients with obesity and elevated plasma glucose levels. Further, they found that the harms of this treatment are “small to none.”

“The USPSTF recommends that clinicians offer or refer adults with a body mass index of 30 or higher to intensive, multicomponent behavioral interventions.”

—Michael Potts

Reference:

USPSTF. Behavioral weight loss interventions to prevent obesity-related morbidity and mortality in adults. JAMA. 2018;320(11):1163-1171.