A study out of the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing suggests that weight loss achieved through a combination of intensive behavioral therapy (IBT) and 3 milligrams of liraglutide daily results in optimal weight-related quality of life for patients struggling with obesity.
Results of the study, led by Penn Nursing’s Ariana Chao, PhD, CRNP, were presented Nov. 5 at ObesityWeek in Las Vegas and are slated for publication in a future issue of Clinical Obesity. In a release, Chao explained that while we know a lot about obesity—and the onslaught of health consequences that go hand-in-hand with it—little is known about the relationship between weight loss and quality of life.
Chao and her team at Penn Nursing studied changes in general and weight-related quality of life outcomes in obese patients who were randomized to different weight loss treatments for a total of 52 weeks. Participants were assigned to either IBT alone, IBT plus liraglutide, or a multicomponent program of IBT, liraglutide and a portion-controlled diet.
Liraglutide is a medication approved by the FDA for chronic weight management. In Chao et al.’s study, the drug was dispensed in 3 milligram doses daily.
The authors found that intensive lifestyle interventions, delivered alone or with daily liraglutide, yielded the best results for patients in terms of general and weight-related quality of life. Patients who received IBT plus liraglutide saw the greatest improvements in weight-related quality of life, especially compared to those who received only IBT.
“Many of the changes in the study participants are clinically meaningful and suggest the potential benefits for weight loss and quality of life when combining IBT and liraglutide,” Chao said in a statement.
After graduating from Indiana University-Bloomington with a bachelor’s in journalism, Anicka joined TriMed’s Chicago team in 2017 covering cardiology. Close to her heart is long-form journalism, Pilot G-2 pens, dark chocolate and her dog Harper Lee.