Case Studies and Testimonials

CASE STUDY 1:

UCLA Offers Medically Supervised Program to Help Patients Lose Weight and Maintain Weight Loss

The UCLA Risk Factor Obesity Weight Management (RFO) program, located on the west campus of UCLA, offers diets with the necessary medical supervision, including laboratory tests and EKG's; exercise and physical activity counseling.

Weight management programs are customized and individualized based on measured metabolic rates and lean body mass as well as individual patient preferences. The RFO program helps patients achieve and maintain a healthy body weight while concentrating on sustainable lifestyle changes including new eating habits, regular exercise or other physical activity, and stress reduction.

Communication with the referring primary care or specialty physician is maintained along with computerized records on all patients. The regular availability of the programs' dedicated and patient-friendly staff, often not available or overlooked in many medical practices, is a key element in helping patients achieve and maintain long-term success in weight management.

http://www.uclahealth.org/body.cfm?xyzpdqabc=0&id=502&action=detail&ref=93

CASE STUDY 2:

Obesity Boom Offers Long Term Increased Revenue

Credit Suisse, the investment bank expects companies in the weight loss field to experience outsized revenue and earnings growth over the foreseeable future.

In a recent report called Obesity and Investment Implications, they said that people across the globe are becoming obese and overweight very fast and in response, corporate awareness of obesity-related markets is increasingly pronounced, the report says.

CASE STUDY 3:

Under treatment of Obesity

Despite the epidemiological data linking obesity to a number of medical diseases, there is evidence that physicians continue to under recognize and under treat it in the medical setting.

Analysis of the National Ambulatory Medical Care Surveys found that of 55,858 US adult physician office visits, behavioral counseling on specific weight reduction strategies such as dietary improvements and exercise regimens were individually provided to no more than a quarter of obese patients. Obesity itself was also underreported.

Tarayn Grizzard Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass JAMA. 2002;288:2177.

CASE STUDY 4:

Physician Practice Patterns with Overweight and Obese Patients

Physicians need to address how to manage obesity including assessing patient attitudes about making lifestyle changes and using their own skills for weight reduction counseling.

The Diabetes Educator, Vol. 32, No. 4, 557-561 (2006) DOI: 10.1177/0145721706290437
© 2006 American Association of Diabetes Educators; Published by SAGE Publications