Re: Interesting Article?

[Guest guest]

,

Here is the abstract, you can order the doucment through Lonsome Doc

service.

Hull

Arch Intern Med 2001 Sep 24;161(17):2133-2139 Related Articles,

Books, LinkOut

Obese Patients' Perceptions of Treatment Outcomes and the Factors

That Influence Them.

GD, Wadden TA, Phelan S, Sarwer DB, on RS.

University of Pennsylvania Department of Psychiatry, 3535 Market St,

Suite 3027, Philadelphia, PA 19104. fosterg@...

BACKGROUND: Despite considerable professional consensus that modest

weight losses of 5% to 10% are successful for reducing the comorbid

conditions associated with obesity, obese patients often desire

weight losses 2 to 3 times greater than this. Examining ways to

reduce the disparities between treatment expectations and subsequent

outcomes, this study evaluated the role of physical characteristics,

treatment setting, and mood in patients' evaluations of treatment

outcomes. METHODS: This study was conducted in a university

outpatient weight loss clinic with a sample of 397 obese individuals

seeking weight loss by a variety of modalities. Before treatment,

participants' heights and weights were measured, and the Beck

Depression Inventory and the Goals and Relative Weight Questionnaire

were administered. RESULTS: Outcome evaluations ranged from 64.4 +/-

11.1 kg (mean +/- SD) for dream weight to 90.1 +/- 19.1 kg for

disappointed weight. Initial body weight was the strongest predictor

of disappointed, acceptable, and happy weights (beta =.90,.76,

and.57, respectively). Sex (beta = -.37) and height (beta =.37) were

the strongest determinants of dream weight. Heavier participants

chose higher absolute weights, but the weight loss required to reach

each of the outcomes was greater for heavier than for lighter

patients. CONCLUSIONS: These data signal a therapeutic dilemma in

which the amount of weight loss produced by the best behavioral

and/or pharmacologic treatments is viewed as even less than

disappointing. Patients with the highest pretreatment weights are

likely to have the most unrealistic expectations for success.

PMID: 11570944 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

> I picked this up from the AMOS site.

>

> http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010928/hl/obese_1.html

>

> Interesting quote:

> >The findings show that " obese patients have unrealistic goals

> > for weight loss, " lead study author Dr. D. of the

> > University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia,

> > told Reuters Health. " Their expectations cannot be met by

> > nonsurgical treatments. "

>

> That's all fine and good, but then the article goes on to say that

> " patients undergoing surgery as an obesity treatment could

> expect to lose 27% of their body weight... " ????

>

> This is a news article summarizing an article in Archives of

> Internal Medicine 2001;161:2133-2139, but I can't get a copy

> here. Has anyone else gotten this recent article? maybe?

> I'm curious as to which surgeries were studied. Of course, 27%

> of my total body weight is a heck of a lot more than 27% of

> excess weight, so it isn't totally off-base, but I'm still

curious.

>

> -maria