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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2019 Apr;27(4):572-580.
doi: 10.1002/oby.22410. Epub 2019 Feb 19.

Comparison of Smartphone-Based Behavioral Obesity Treatment With Gold Standard Group Treatment and Control: A Randomized Trial

J Graham Thomas  1 , Dale S Bond  1 , Hollie A Raynor  2 , George D Papandonatos  3 , Rena R Wing  1
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Comparison of Smartphone-Based Behavioral Obesity Treatment With Gold Standard Group Treatment and Control: A Randomized Trial

J Graham Thomas et al. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2019 Apr.

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to determine whether weight losses from a primarily smartphone-based behavioral obesity treatment (SMART) differed from those of a more intensive group-based behavioral obesity treatment (GROUP) and a control condition (CONTROL).

Methods: A total of 276 adults with overweight/obesity were randomly assigned to 18 months of GROUP-based treatment with meetings weekly for 6 months, meetings biweekly for 6 months, and meetings monthly for 6 months and self-monitoring via paper diaries with written feedback; SMART-based treatment with online lessons, self-monitoring, and feedback plus monthly weigh-ins; or a CONTROL condition with self-monitoring via paper diaries with written feedback and monthly weigh-ins.

Results: Among the 276 participants (17% men; 7.2% minority; mean [SD] age: 55.1 [9.9] years; weight: 95.9 [17.0] kg; BMI: 35.2 [5.0] kg/m2 ), 18-month retention was significantly higher in both GROUP (83%) and SMART (81%) compared with CONTROL (66%). Estimated mean (95% CI) weight change over 18 months did not differ across the three conditions: 5.9 kg (95% CI: 4.5-7.4) in GROUP, 5.5 kg (95% CI: 3.9-7.1) in SMART, and 6.4 kg (95% CI: 3.7-9.2) in CONTROL.

Conclusions: Mobile online delivery of behavioral obesity treatment can achieve weight loss outcomes that are at least as good as those obtained via the more intensive gold standard group-based approach.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01724632.

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Flow of participants through the trial.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Mean weight change over time by intervention assignment. Error bars indicate 95% confidence interval.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Self-monitoring of weight over time by intervention assignment.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Self-monitoring of diet and physical activity over time by intervention assignment.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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