Counseling intervention helps avert weight gain in midlife women

Women who are trying to prevent obesity during midlife may benefit from counseling interventions, which a recent study has shown to result in modest differences in weight change without causing any significant harm.

A group of researchers accessed the databases of Ovid Medline, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews from inception to 26 October 2021 for English-language literature. They also searched reference lists of studies and reviews.

Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that enrolled predominantly midlife women and compared behavioural interventions to prevent weight gain with control groups, as well as reported health outcomes and potential harms, were included in the analysis. The researchers performed dual extraction and quality assessment of individual studies.

Seven RCTs in 12 publications, involving a total of 51,638 participants, met the eligibility criteria. Of these, four displayed statistically significant favourable differences in weight change for counseling interventions compared with control groups (mean difference of weight change, ‒0.87 to ‒2.5 kg).

On the other hand, one trial of counseling and two trials of exercise showed no significant differences. One of two RCTs reported better quality-of-life measures.

In one trial, interventions did not increase measures of depression or stress. Self-reported falls (37 percent vs 29 percent; p<0.001) and injuries (19 percent vs 14 percent; p=0.03) were also more frequent with exercise counseling, as seen in one trial.

This study was limited by generally small, heterogeneous trials and the lack of data on harms, long-term health outcomes, and specific patient populations.

“More research is needed to determine optimal content, frequency, length, and number of sessions required and should include additional patient populations,” the researchers said.