Percent weight reduction required to achieve minimal clinically important improvements in health-related quality of life among African Americans: A secondary analysis of the fit body and soul study.
Jane T Garvin, Lovoria B Williams, Thomas V Joshua and 2 others
PMID 28720228WHAT IT FOUND
In African-American adults seeking weight reduction, larger weight loss was associated with better physical quality-of-life scores.
The models estimated 18% weight loss for meaningful physical quality-of-life improvement and 30% for overall health status, far above 3-5%.
Key findings
01Percent weight reduction significantly predicted improvement in SF-12 Physical Component Summary and in EQ-5D Health Status, except among participants with baseline EQ-5D Health Status below 80.
02After adjustment for age, gender, and baseline BMI, meaningful improvement in SF-12 Physical Component Summary required 18% weight reduction, and meaningful improvement in EQ-5D Health Status required 30% weight reduction.
03All calculated percent weight reductions needed for a meaningful health-related quality-of-life improvement exceeded the 3-5% weight reduction associated with physical benefits.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The analysis included 472 of 604 participants, and those with complete data were older and had higher baseline EQ-5D health status than those excluded, so some selection bias is possible. The sample was narrow: African-American church congregants, mostly employed, female, married, and college educated, and non-diabetic, so the estimates may not apply to other groups or settings. The findings are associations from regression models, not proof that a specific percent of weight loss causes a specific quality-of-life improvement. The required percentages depend on chosen minimal clinically important improvement thresholds (5 points for SF-12 and 10 points for EQ-5D) and on linear modelling assumptions. Generic quality-of-life measures were used, and the SF-12 Mental Component Summary did not yield a meaningful model; no meaningful percent could be calculated for EQ-5D health status among participants with baseline scores below 80.
Declared interests
The article is listed as supported by NIH extramural research. The supplied text does not report author conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the 18% and 30% figures as universal weight-loss targets for all patients. They were calculated from regression models in a specific sample of African-American church congregants, and the analysis did not prove that this amount of weight loss causes a meaningful quality-of-life improvement.