(Press-News.org) Computer and web-based weight management programmes may provide a cost effective way of addressing the growing problem of obesity, according to a team of seven researchers who undertook a Cochrane systematic review. The researchers, from Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, USA, found that delivering weight loss or weight maintenance programmes online or by computer helped overweight and obese patients lose and/or maintain weight.
Being overweight or obese can increase a person's risk of diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke and other chronic medical conditions. The World Health Organization predicts that the number of obese and overweight people in the world will reach 1.5 billion by 2015. Computer or internet-based weight management programmes may be a cost-effective approach to treating overweight or obese people, with the potential to have a major impact on public health.
The review focuses on 14 studies of weight loss involving a total of 2,537 people and four weight maintenance studies involving a further 1,603 people. Those who took part were selected based on having a body mass index (BMI) over a certain limit. In weight loss studies, participants lost more weight after six months than those receiving no intervention or minimal interventions, but less than those who received treatment face-to-face. Similarly, participants who took part in weight maintenance studies were more successful at keeping off weight than those receiving no or minimal interventions, but less so than those receiving face-to-face treatment. Minimal interventions included handing out pamphlets or providing usual care.
L. Susan Wieland, PhD, based at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, US, was the lead author of the study. "Computer or web-based weight management programmes may be less beneficial than face-to-face interventions, but health care providers have limited opportunities to provide this care, so lower impact treatment approaches need to be considered," said Wieland.
"These large-scale systematic reviews are helpful to determine – using available peer-reviewed studies – what works and what doesn't work, so health care providers can make evidence-based recommendations," said Karina W. Davidson, PhD, director, Center for Behavioral Cardiovascular Health, Columbia University Medical Center, and an author of the study. "Since more patients are participating in online weight loss or management programs, these results reveal that computer-based delivery can be effective."
According to the researchers, although their review did not cover smartphones, these could now take the place of desktop computers or laptops in delivering online weight management programmes. "Since we started the review, smartphones have become capable of functioning like fully mobile computers with interactive potential similar to that of laptops and desktops," said Wieland. "We hope to include trials of smartphones when we update this review."
###
Online obesity treatment programs show promise
2012-08-15
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Cocoa compounds may reduce blood pressure
2012-08-15
Compounds in cocoa may help to reduce blood pressure, according to a new systematic review in The Cochrane Library. The researchers reviewed evidence from short-term trials in which participants were given dark chocolate or cocoa powder daily and found that their blood pressure dropped slightly compared to a control group.
Cocoa contains compounds called flavanols, thought to be responsible for the formation of nitric oxide in the body. Nitric oxide causes blood vessel walls to relax and open wider, thereby reducing blood pressure. The link between cocoa and blood pressure ...
Exercise may improve quality of life during and after cancer
2012-08-15
Exercise may improve quality of life for people with cancer, according to Cochrane researchers. In two separate Cochrane systematic reviews, the authors gathered together evidence showing that activities such as walking and cycling can benefit those who are undergoing or have completed treatment for cancer.
People with cancer suffer from many different physical, psychological and social effects related to cancer, as well as treatment-related symptoms. There has been much interest in the effects of exercise on physical and psychological well-being in people with cancer. ...
CSHL-led team introduces new method to closely model diseases caused by splicing defects
2012-08-15
Cold Spring Harbor, NY – A team led by scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) has developed a new way of making animal models for a broad class of human genetic diseases – those with pathology caused by errors in the splicing of RNA messages copied from genes. To date, about 6,000 such RNA "editing" errors have been found in various human illnesses, ranging from neurodegenerative disorders to cancer.
The new modeling approach can provide unique insights into how certain diseases progress and is likely to boost efforts to develop novel treatments. It was ...
Nurses as effective as doctors in treatment of HIV patients
2012-08-15
Nurse-centred care of HIV patients can be just as safe and effective as care delivered by doctors and has a number of specific health benefits, according to a new study led by the University of East Anglia (UEA) and the University of Cape Town (UCT).
Published today in The Lancet, the research shows that neither survival rates nor virus suppression reduced when nurses administered antiretroviral drugs to patients in South Africa. Health benefits included: significantly improved detection of tuberculosis; increased white blood cell count; increased weight; and improved ...
Financial incentives 'can undermine motivation and worsen performance'
2012-08-15
Financial incentives (pay for performance) schemes for health professionals "can undermine motivation and worsen performance" warn US experts in an editorial published on bmj.com today. They also say that gaming of the system is rife.
Their views are published alongside an analysis of the positive and negative effects of financial incentives led by Professor Paul Glasziou of Bond University in Australia.
Glasziou and colleagues describe the current evidence on the effectiveness of financial incentives as "modest and inconsistent" and say that, although reward schemes ...
Certain medical students more likely to work as doctors in their own countries
2012-08-15
Certain medical students may be more likely to stay in their own countries or work in rural areas of their own countries when they qualify as doctors, suggests a study published on bmj.com today.
Given that many low income countries have insufficient doctors to meet their needs, particularly in rural areas, the authors suggest that policy makers could use this evidence to adjust entrance criteria for medical schools that favour subsequent practice in less well served areas of their country.
Previous studies have shown that, in high income countries, doctors with rural ...
UK recession may be to blame for over 1,000 suicides in England
2012-08-15
A paper published on bmj.com today suggests that over 1000 people have committed suicide due to the 2008-2010 economic recession in the UK (846 men and 155 women).
Suicides began to rise in the UK in 2008 following 20 years of decline - suicides rose 8% among men and 9% among women in 2008, compared to 2007. And even though suicides did begin to fall in 2010 figures were still above the 2007 averages.
Previous studies have concluded that unemployment does increase the risk of suicide and non-fatal self-harm but while suicides tend to increase during economic downturns, ...
Performance pay for physicians may backfire: BMJ editorial
2012-08-15
In a cautionary editorial alongside a related article in today's issue of the British medical journal BMJ, leading experts in health policy and behavioral economics argue that pay-for-performance (P4P) schemes – which financially reward doctors and hospitals for hitting specific, numerical targets in such matters as preventing hospital readmissions or prescribing certain drugs – are likely to do more harm than good.
Such schemes are being adopted as a key component of the Accountable Care Organization strategy mandated by the 2010 health reform and are now part of the ...
Scientists can now block heroin, morphine addiction
2012-08-15
In a major breakthrough, an international team of scientists has proven that addiction to morphine and heroin can be blocked, while at the same time increasing pain relief.
The team from the University of Adelaide and University of Colorado has discovered the key mechanism in the body's immune system that amplifies addiction to opioid drugs.
Laboratory studies have shown that the drug (+)-naloxone (pronounced: PLUS nal-OX-own) will selectively block the immune-addiction response.
The results – which could eventually lead to new co-formulated drugs that assist patients ...
Study proves that 1 extinction leads to another
2012-08-15
When a carnivore becomes extinct, other predatory species could soon follow, according to new research. Scientists have previously put forward this theory, but a University of Exeter team has now carried out the first experiment to prove it.
Published today (15 August 2012) in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters, the study shows how the demise of one carnivore species can indirectly cause another to become extinct. The University of Exeter team believes any extinction can create a ripple effect across a food web, with far-reaching consequences for many other animals. ...