Newswise, April 5, 2016— Despite guidelines that
advocate the use of weight loss medications to treat obesity, and the
availability of FDA approved medications, very few patients use this treatment
option, a new study suggests.
More than a third of adults in the U.S. have
obesity. Lifestyle changes produce modest weight loss and are appropriate for
everyone with a weight problem. Surgery is an effective treatment but it is costly,
carries risk and is only appropriate for a limited number of people. Weight
loss medications can be effective, and guidelines suggest obese patients and
their doctors should consider their use for selected patients.
“We looked at how commonly weight loss medications
were prescribed to patients for whom guidelines suggest this treatment would be
appropriate,” said lead author Daniel Bessesen, MD, Professor of Medicine and
Chief of Endocrinology at the University of Colorado and Denver Health Medical
Center. “It seems that despite the broad realization that obesity is a problem
and that there are available FDA approved medications, few patients use this
treatment option.”
In this study, researchers used electronic medical
records from nine sites from 2009-2013. They discovered that out of more than 2
million eligible patients, only 1.02 percent received a weight loss medication.
The most commonly prescribed medication was phentermine, which is generic and
inexpensive, but only FDA approved for three months of use.
Researchers also found that a small number of providers write a vast majority of the prescriptions for weigh loss medications.
“In many other diseases like hypertension and
diabetes, treatment with medications is common and considered standard practice,”
Bessesen said. “There remain many questions about why so few patients use
weight loss medications.”
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