Weight management treatment modalities in patients with overweight or obesity: A retrospective cohort study of administrative claims data
Open accessAbstract
Background: The purpose of this study was to describe demographic and clinical characteristics among patients who have medical encounters for weight management treatments and to investigate the association of those characteristics with treatment modality. Methods: This was a retrospective database study using medical claims, pharmacy claims, and enrollment information from commercial and Medicare Advantage with Part D members in the Optum Research Database from 01/01/2011-2/29/2020. Adult patients with a claim for a weight management treatment from 01/01/2012-2/28/2019 were categorized into cohorts according to the highest intensity intervention received. To examine the association between patient characteristics and treatment modality received, a multinomial logit model was performed. Results: Cohorts by increasing intensity included lifestyle intervention (LSI, n = 67,679), weight reduction pharmacotherapy (WRRx) with an anti-obesity medication (AOM, n = 6,905), weight reduction procedure (WRP, n = 1,172), and weight reduction surgery (WRS, n = 18,036). Approximately 32.1% and 16.6% of patients who received WRS or WRP had an LSI during the 12-month baseline, and only 0.6% and 0.4% had treatment with long-term AOMs. In a multinomial logit model, patients with type 2 diabetes (not including WRRx cohort), respiratory disorders, cardiovascular risk factors, pain disorders, and mental health conditions had increased odds of treatment with higher intensity intervention versus LSI. Patients who were male, received an intervention more recently (2016-2019), or had a Charlson comorbidity score of 1 (compared to 0) had decreased odds of treatment with higher intensity interventions. Conclusion: In this study, age, sex, body mass index, obesity-related complications, and Charlson comorbidity score appeared to influence the type of weight management treatment modality received. This study improves understanding of weight management treatment utilization and identifies gaps and opportunities to improve obesity care with the appropriate use of different treatment modalities.
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Patients with more severe or long-standing comorbidities are directed toward bariatric surgery rather than AOMs.
“patients with more severe or long-standing comorbidities are directed toward bariatric surgery rather than AOMs (30).”
From Regional trends and disparities in newer <scp>GLP1</scp> receptor agonist initiation among real‐world adult patients eligible for obesity treatment (2025) · cites this paper as [30]
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- [61]Perreault L. Kramer E.S. Smith P.C. Schmidt D. Argyropoulos A closer look at weight loss interventions in primary care: a systematic review and meta-analysis Preprint available at: www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.08.03.22278290v1 2022 PMC10701393 38076252 · DOI
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“30 33 Our results highlight the need for greater awareness of the cardiometabolic benefits of newer AOMs and further research to inform obesity treatment guidelines.”
- Authors
- Kan, H., Swindle, J. P., Bae, J., Dunn, J. P., Buysman, E. K., Gronroos, N. N., Bengtson, L., Chinthammit, C., Ford, J., & Ahmad, N.
- Affiliations
- Eli Lilly (United States) (US)
- Optum (United States) (US)
- Corresponding author
- Gronroos, Noelle N.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Obesity Pillars
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2023-09
- Volume
- 7
- Pages
- 100072
- ISSN
- 2667-3681 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC10661997
- OpenAlex
- W4377690858
- Cited by
- 10
- References
- 60
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 5
- FWCI
- 2.68
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Obesity Pillars (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Eli Lilly and Company
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Surgery › Bariatric Surgery and Outcomes
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Pharmacology and Obesity Treatment
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet
- Keywords
- obesity, overweight, weight reduction surgery, anti-obesity drugs, lifestyle intervention, treatment intensity, patient characteristics, type 2 diabetes, comorbidities
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