Small-changes obesity treatment among veterans: 12-month outcomes

Background: Weight-loss trials tend to recruit highly selective, non-representative samples. Effective weight-loss approaches are needed for real-world challenging populations.

Purpose: To test whether a small-changes intervention, delivered in groups or via telephone, promotes greater weight loss than standard obesity treatment in a predominantly male, high-risk Veteran population. Data were collected in 2010-2012 and analyzed in 2013.

Design: A three-arm, 12-month randomized pragmatic effectiveness trial.

Setting/participants: Four-hundred eighty-one overweight/obese participants from two Midwestern Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Centers were randomly assigned to one of three programs: the 12-month Aspiring to Lifelong Health (ASPIRE) weight-loss program delivered (1) individually over the phone (ASPIRE-Phone) or (2) in-person group sessions (ASPIRE-Group); compared to (3) VA's standard weight-loss program (MOVE!).

Intervention: Twenty-eight sessions with a non-clinician coach via telephone or in-person groups using a small-changes obesity treatment approach compared to a 15-30-session standard VA program.

Main outcome measures: Twelve-month change in weight (kilograms).

Results: Participants in all three arms lost significant (p<0.01) weight at 12 months. Participants in the ASPIRE-Group arm lost significantly more weight at 12 months than those in the other two treatment arms (-2.8 kg, 95% CI=-3.8, -1.9, in ASPIRE-Group vs -1.4 kg, 95% CI=-2.4, -0.5, in ASPIRE-Phone and -1.4 kg, 95% CI=-2.3, -0.4) in MOVE!(®). ASPIRE-Group resulted in greater improvements in all other anthropometric measures compared to MOVE! at 12 months (p<0.05) and for all (p<0.05) but waist circumference (p=0.23) compared to ASPIRE-Phone.

Conclusions: Group-based delivery of the ASPIRE weight management program is more effective than MOVE! and the phone-based version of ASPIRE at promoting sustained weight loss in a predominantly male population with multiple comorbidities. The incremental benefits of group-based ASPIRE over the current MOVE! program could yield significant population-level benefits if implemented on a large scale.