Researchers in the UK have found that there is no difference in weight loss between older and younger people in a program for people with morbidity, and then hospital-based lifestyle interventions to lose weight. Should be recommended. obesity..
Thomas M. Barber, PhD, and colleagues look back at nearly 250 randomly selected adults who have participated in obesity services for 11 years.
Elderly people defined as over 60 years old Type 2 diabetes However, over the course of about 40 months, they experienced a similar rate of weight loss and reduced body mass index (BMI) as younger patients.
“Age should not be a barrier to obese lifestyle management,” a barber at Coventry University Hospital in the United Kingdom and Warwickshire said in a news release from his facility.
“We need to proactively facilitate the process, rather than prevent older people from accessing weight loss programs, or the risk of further unnecessarily ignoring older people due to misunderstandings of social age discrimination. there is.”
He urged service providers and policy makers to “understand the importance of weight loss in obese older people to maintain health and well-being and promote healthy aging.”
“In addition, age itself should not contribute to clinical decisions regarding the implementation of lifestyle management for the elderly.”
Research Published online November 22 Clinical endocrinology..
Real-world data informs clinical practice
Dr. Jason Halford, a professor of biological psychology and health behavior, Medscape Medical News, “Fear is perceived that older patients do not respond to lifestyle interventions to control obesity,” “and that is clearly wrong, according to this study.”
The findings are reinforced by the fact that these are real data, “so it will inform clinical practice,” he added.
And one of the “more interesting” discoveries is [type 2] Diabetes was “more prevalent” in the older group, but “they are still losing weight,” he said.
“Traditionally, people with type 2 diabetes have been considered difficult to lose weight because they are trying to manage two conditions,” said Halford of the University of Leeds, UK. For the study of obesity.
Don‘t Discount for elderly patients
Researchers say that many of the comorbidities associated with obesity “onset over time” and “no one is affected by obesity,” regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status. Stated.
Barbers say that medical professionals “may downplay weight loss in the elderly,” such as the “ageist” view that weight loss has nothing to do with the elderly and the misunderstanding that the elderly’s ability to lose weight is reduced. Said “there are some.” Weight due to dietary changes and increased physical activity. “
“Elderly people may feel that hospital-based obesity services are not for them,” he said.
To determine the effect of age on the ability to lose weight through lifestyle interventions, Barber et al. Randomly selected 242 patients with morbid obesity who participated in hospital-based services between 2005 and 2016. Did.
Of these, 167 were between the ages of 18 and 60 and 75 were over the age of 60. Most participants were women (75.4% of younger patients and 60.0% of older patients).
The proportion of patients with confirmed diabetes was significantly higher in the older group compared to the younger group, 62.7% vs. 35.3%, while the baseline BMI of older patients was significantly lower at 46.9 vs. 49.7 kg / m. ..2 (((P <.05).
The average duration of lifestyle intervention was ≥3 years (41.5 months) for younger patients and 33.6 months for older patients.
There was no significant difference in weight loss rates of 6.9% and 7.3% between young and elderly patients, and no difference in BMI reduction rates of 8.1% and 7.8%, respectively.
Further analysis showed that there was no significant correlation between age at referral to hospital-based services and the rate of weight loss (correlation coefficient, –0.13).
Halford said it was “useful” to know the percentage of patients who achieved 5% and 10% weight loss. Because if one-third of patients lose more than 10% of their body weight, it’s a real benefit for things like type 2 diabetes that “suggests that it’s there, even in the elderly.” Would be. “
And he wants to see more data about how long participants were suffering from obesity. It’s just an assumption that the second group is going further because they’re older, but it’s not 100% certain. “”
The team notes that the study is retrospective and is limited by including a random selection of patients to participate in the service, rather than the entire cohort.
Halford agreed, but said the analysis was a “starting point” and could be used as a platform for conducting “much more systematic research in this area.”
No funding or related financial relationships have been declared.
Clean End Linole (Oxf) 2020. Published online on November 22, 2020. Full text
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