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Session: Behavioral Interventions in Obesity: What's New? (Oral 31)

(OR31-06-24) Effectiveness of a Digital Weight Management Program on Diet Quality

Tuesday, July 2, 2024
9:00 AM – 9:12 AM CT
Location:  W184

    Presenting Author(s)

  • Ana M. Palacios, MD, PhD

    Assistant Professor
    Georgia Southern University
    Savannah, Georgia, United States

    Disclosure(s): WeightWatchers: Grant/Research Support (Ongoing)

    • Co-Author(s)

  • AL

    Alexandra M. Lee

    WW International, Inc, New York, United States

  • CW

    Cullun Q. Watts, MS

    Jiann Ping Hsu College of Public Health, Georgia Southern University, Georgia, United States

  • CP

    Chelsie Parker

    Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington, Indiana, United States

  • SD

    Stephanie L. Dickinson, MS

    Interim Director & Senior Biostatistician
    Indiana University
    Bloomington, Indiana, United States

  • BH

    Beate Henschel, MPH, M.A.

    Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington

  • GA

    Grace Anderson

    Jiann Ping Hsu College of Public Health, Georgia Southern University, Georgia, United States

  • JK

    Jing Kersey

    Jiann Ping Hsu College of Public Health, Georgia Southern University, Georgia, United States

  • GF

    Gary D. Foster

    WW International, Inc; University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine, New York, United States

  • David B. Allison, PhD

    Dean & Distinguished Professor
    Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington
    Bloomington, Indiana, United States

  • MC

    Michelle I. Cardel

    WW International, Inc. and University of Florida

Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of a comprehensive digital weight management program (WeightWatchers®; WW) on diet quality measured with the Healthy Eating Index-2015 (HEI), vs standard of care (SOC) with resources from MyPlate.gov.

Methods: A randomized controlled trial (NCT05648344) was performed among 376 US adults with a BMI between 27 to 40 kg/m2. Participants were assigned to receive WW (n=187) or SOC (n=189) for 6 months. Three 24-h dietary recalls with ASA-24 were collected at baseline and 6-mo and HEI was calculated. Intention-to-treat analysis comparing changes in HEI were assessed via ANCOVA on change scores with multiple imputation (MI), as pre-specified primary analysis, and with linear mixed models (LMM) on longitudinal data without imputation. All analyses were adjusted for sex, age, race, ethnicity, education, and baseline HEI scores.

Results: Participants’ mean age was 47.7±12.2 years; 27.7% self-identified as non-White; 9.6% of Hispanic ethnicity; and 20.7% male. Mean BMI was 33.6 ± 4.7 kg/m2. There were differences in completers between SOC (n=181/189) and WW (n=160/187), with the majority reported dropping due to time constraints or personal reasons.

Mean baseline to 6-mo HEI change for participants receiving the WW intervention was 5.31 ±1.51, and 1.13±1.37 for participants randomized to the SOC. Differences between groups comparing HEI 6-month changes were estimated as: a) M=4.18, SE=1.21, p= 0.001 from ANCOVA+MI and b) M=3.97, SE=1.28, p=0.002 from LMM.

Conclusions: Baseline to 6-month changes in HEI scores from participants randomized to WW were significantly greater relative to SOC, suggesting that the 6-month intervention is effective in improving diet quality among diverse US adults living with overweight or obesity.

Funding Sources: WW International LLC