Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2013 Nov;37(11):1427-34.
doi: 10.1038/ijo.2013.25. Epub 2013 Mar 5.

Randomized controlled trial of behavioral treatment for comorbid obesity and depression in women: the Be Active Trial

S Pagoto  1 , K L Schneider, M C Whited, J L Oleski, P Merriam, B Appelhans, Y Ma, B Olendzki, M E Waring, A M Busch, S Lemon, I Ockene, S Crawford
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Randomized controlled trial of behavioral treatment for comorbid obesity and depression in women: the Be Active Trial

S Pagoto et al. Int J Obes (Lond). 2013 Nov.

Abstract

Objective: Depression is associated with increased risk for obesity and worse weight loss treatment outcomes. The purpose of the present study was to test the hypothesis that delivering evidence-based behavior therapy for depression before a lifestyle weight loss intervention improves both weight loss and depression.

Design: In a randomized controlled trial, obese women with major depressive disorder (N=161, mean age=45.9 (s.d.: 10.8) years) were randomized to brief behavior therapy for depression treatment followed by a lifestyle intervention (BA) or a lifestyle intervention only (LI). Follow-up occurred at 6 and 12 months. Main outcome measures included weight loss and depression symptoms.

Results: Intention-to-treat analyses revealed both conditions lost significant weight, but no differences between conditions in weight change at 6 months (BA=-3.0%, s.e.=-0.65%; LI=-3.7%, s.e.=0.63%; P=0.48) or 12 months (BA=-2.6%, s.e.=0.77%; LI=-3.1%, s.e.=0.74%; P=0.72). However, the BA condition evidenced significantly greater improvement in Beck Depression Inventory-II scores relative to the LI condition at both 6 months (BA mean change=-12.5, s.d.=0.85; LI mean change=-9.2, s.d.=0.80, P=0.005) and 12 months (BA mean change=-12.6, s.d.=0.97; LI mean change=-9.9, s.d.=0.93; P=0.045). Participants who experienced depression remission by 6 months (61.2%) lost greater weight (mean=-4.31%; s.e.=0.052) than those who did not (39.7%; mean=-2.47%, s.e.=0.53; P=.001).

Conclusion: Adding behavior therapy to a lifestyle intervention results in greater depression remission but does not improve weight loss within 1 year. Improvement in depression is associated with greater weight loss.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

No authors have conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 2
Intervention Conditions
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Pagoto SL, Schneider KL, Appelhans B, Curtin C, Hajduk A. Psychological Co-morbidities of Obesity. In: Pagoto SL, editor. Psychological Co-Morbidities of Physical Illness: A Behavioral Medicine Perspective. 1. New York, NY: Springer; 2011.
    1. Pagoto SL, Bodenlos JS, Kantor L, Gitkind M, Curtin C, Ma Y. Association of major depression and binge eating disorder with weight loss in a clinical setting. Obesity. 2007;15(11):2557–59. - PubMed
    1. Clark MM, Niaura R, King TK, Pera V. Depression, smoking, activity level, and health status: pretreatment predictors of attrition in obesity treatment. Addict Behav. 1996;21(4):509–13. - PubMed
    1. Pekarik G, Blodgett C, Evans RG, Wierzbicki M. Variables related to continuance in a behavioral weight loss program. Addict Behav. 1984;9(4):413–6. - PubMed
    1. Linde JA, Simon GE, Ludman EJ, Ichikawa LE, Operskalski BH, Arterburn D, et al. A randomized controlled trial of behavioral weight loss treatment versus combined weight loss/depression treatment among women with comorbid obesity and depression. Ann Behav Med. 2011 Sep 28; - PMC - PubMed

Publication types