Abstract
Background: ACTION- I O, an online survey completed by people with obesity (PwO) and health care professionals (HCPs), identified barriers to effective obesity care. This sub-analysis collected responses from PwO asked about their desired weight loss (DWL) and weight loss goals (WLG) in response to their weight loss efforts and characterized them by clinically relevant variables. Methods: Self-reported current weight, desired weight and weight loss target by PwO were used to calculate percentage DWL and WLG, and were compared across groups based on independent variables: obesity class (OC; I vs II,III), gender (male vs female), and presence of comorbidities (0 vs >1). Two models were constructed using the variables above: model 1 had 4 groups: OC I+males, OC II,III+males, OC I+females, and OC II,III+females; while model 2, with an added variable number of comorbidities, had 8 groups in total. Results: The analysis had 14,488 records. The mean (±SD) age was 48 ± 16 yrs, body mass index was 34 ± 5 kg/m2. Overall, DWL was higher in comparison to WLG (mean 22% vs 16%). A similar trend was observed across the groups. In model 1, regardless of OC, females had higher %DWL (22% vs 16% OC I; 30% vs 25% OC II,III) and %WLG (16% vs 12% OC I; 22% vs 19% OC II,III) than males. Females were younger, struggled with weight at an earlier age, and made more weight loss attempts than males. In model 2, presence of comorbidities showed no meaningful changes in DWL and WLG in PwO from respective sex and OC groups. PwO with >1 comorbidity were older, started struggling with weight at a later age, and made more weight loss attempts versus those with 0 comorbidities. Conclusions: PwO, especially females, reported a DWL and WLG higher than what is usually achievable with existing non-surgical interventions, irrespective of their OC. The difference between DWL and WLG may be the result of previous weight loss experiences. HCPs need to discuss DWL and WLG with PwO when deciding on treatment.