TOPLINE:

Among adults with obesity or overweight and related comorbidities, the use of antiobesity medications (AOMs) through a telehealth weight management clinic led to average weight loss of 18.53% at 18 months and 20.27% at 24 months.

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers conducted a retrospective observational study to evaluate the efficacy of a telemedicine weight management clinic (WeightWatchers Clinic) in treating obesity with AOMs at 18 and 24 months among adults with obesity or with overweight and related comorbidities.
• The study analyzed data from 11,675 adults (mean age, 43 years; 87.91% female) who maintained AOM use for at least 18 months and 4317 adults (mean age, 43 years; 90.55% female) who maintained AOM use for at least 24 months. Participants met the FDA criteria for AOM use: BMI ≥ 30 or BMI ≥ 27 with comorbidities such as hypertension, prediabetes, hyperlipidemia, or obstructive sleep apnea.
• Participants enrolled online for telehealth-based weight management, verified their weight with a photograph of their at-home scale, and met virtually with board-certified clinicians for AOM prescriptions.
• The medications included long-acting AOMs (semaglutide, dulaglutide, and tirzepatide), short-acting AOMs (liraglutide), and oral AOMs (bupropion-naltrexone, metformin, and semaglutide).

TAKEAWAY:

• Across all AOMs, participants lost an average of 18.53% of their initial body weight at 18 months and 20.27% at 24 months.
• Long-acting AOMs were the most commonly used medication type, and 84.2% of participants in the 18-month cohort and 81.1% of those in the 24-month cohort continued these medications through the end of the study. Average weight loss for patients on long-acting AOMs was 18.75% at 18 months and 20.48% at 20 months.
• Most patients who started on an oral or short-acting AOM transitioned to a long-acting AOM by the end of the study. Average weight loss for those participants ranged from 18.07% to 19.98% at 18 months and 19.55% to 21.94% at 24 months.
• Nausea, constipation, and diarrhea were the most common side effects at both 18 and 24 months, but the frequency of these side effects declined over time.

IN PRACTICE:

“Weight-loss efficacy [of telemedicine-based AOM use] is comparable to those observed in phase 3 trials of semaglutide and tirzepatide, with fewer adverse effects reported as well. The telehealth platform appears to be an effective and durable mode of delivering medical care and pharmacotherapy with clear weight-loss benefits for those who continue AOMs over long-term periods of use,” the authors of the study wrote.

SOURCE:

The study, led by Kathleen R. Ruddiman, Bariatric and Weight Management Section, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, was published online in Obesity.

LIMITATIONS:

The study population consisted mostly of women and did not include ethnicity data, limiting generalizability. Participants self-reported their weight, which may have introduced bias. Another limitation was low participant retention rates.

DISCLOSURES:

The study was funded by WW International, Inc., which owns WeightWatchers Clinic. Three authors declared being employees and shareholders of WW International, and another received consulting fees from the company. Another author reported receiving consulting fees, grants, meeting or travel support, or research support; holding leadership or fiduciary roles in professional organizations; and having other ties with various healthcare companies, including the funding agency.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.