The association between baseline persistent pain and weight change in patients attending a specialist weight management service

Cormac G. Ryan, Arutchelvam Vijayaraman, Victoria Denny, Alison Ogier, Louisa Ells, Shaun Wellburn, Lesley Cooper, Denis J. Martin, Greg Atkinson

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
To quantify the influence of baseline pain levels on weight change at one-year follow-up in patients attending a National Health Service specialist weight management programme.

METHODS
We compared one-year follow-up weight (body mass) change between patient sub-groups of none-to-mild, moderate, and severe pain at baseline. A mean sub-group difference in weight change of ≥5kg was considered clinically relevant.

RESULTS
Of the 141 complete cases, n = 43 (30.5%) reported none-to-mild pain, n = 44 (31.2%) reported moderate pain, and n = 54 (38.3%) reported severe pain. Covariate-adjusted mean weight loss (95%CI) was similar for those with none-to-mild (8.1kg (4.2 to 12.0kg)) and moderate pain (8.3kg (4.9 to 11.7kg). The mean weight loss of 3.0kg (-0.4 to 6.4kg) for the severe pain group was 5.1kg (-0.6 to 10.7, p = 0.08) lower than the none-to-mild pain group and 5.3kg (0.4 to 10.2kg, p = 0.03) lower than the moderate pain group.

CONCLUSIONS
Patients with severe pain upon entry to a specialist weight management service in England achieve a smaller mean weight loss at one-year follow-up than those with none-to-moderate pain. The magnitude of the difference in mean weight loss was clinically relevant, highlighting the importance of addressing severe persistent pain in obese patients undertaking weight management programmes.
Original languageEnglish
Article numbere0179227
JournalPLoS ONE
Volume12
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 12 Jun 2017
Externally publishedYes

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