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ObesityPhase 4ToolboxNCT01922934

A Toolbox Approach to Obesity Treatment in Primary Care

A Phase 4 study testing Commercial weight loss program, Colorado Weigh and Meal replacements in people with Obesity, run by Denver Health and Hospital Authority at 1 site in United States.

Completed

Finished. The study has ended and is not enrolling. Results may be posted on the official record.

Official record
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Trial summary

Obesity is common, causing many medical problems in adults (e.g., diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, sleep apnea, heart attack, strokes). A range of treatments have shown to be effective for treating obesity. Treatments include lifestyle modification, meal replacements, and weight loss medication. Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Ages 18 to 80 years
Conditions the study is for
Obesity
What is being tested?
Commercial weight loss program, Colorado Weigh and Meal replacements
Could I receive a placebo?
No, everyone receives an active treatment
How many people
4,730 participants
Where
1 siteUnited States
Study dates
Jan 2014to Aug 2016
Phase
Phase 4
Are there results?
Yes, posted in the registrySummary in the doctors' view

Key requirements

Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.

  • Ages 18 to 80 years
  • All sexes
  • No healthy volunteers
  • Adult, Older adult

Who may be able to join

  • BMI > 30 kg/m2 and < 45 kg/m2
  • Any one of the following (weight-related) diagnoses: type 2 diabetes or pre-diabetes, including those treated with glucose lowering medications; hypertension, including patients treated with anti-hypertensive medications; hyperlipidemia, including those treated with lipid lowering agents; atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, including coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, or peripheral vascular disease; obstructive sleep apnea
  • Visited their primary care provider (PCP) at least twice during the past 12 months, including once in the last 6 months

Who cannot join

  • Heart attack or stroke within the past 6 months; cancer treated within the past 5 years, except for non-melanoma skin cancer or localized prostate cancer; other medical contraindications to weight loss (e.g., end-stage renal disease, cirrhosis); active substance abuse; current treatment for bipolar disorder or schizophrenia; discretion of PCP (see below)

Trial locations and contacts

1 site in 1 country.

United States1 site
  • Denver Health and Hospital Authority

    Denver, Colorado, 80204

Other trials in United States

About this study

Obesity is common, causing many medical problems in adults (e.g., diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, sleep apnea, heart attack, strokes). A range of treatments have shown to be effective for treating obesity. Treatments include lifestyle modification, meal replacements, and weight loss medication. Most primary care settings do not provide much obesity treatment, though, as primary care providers (PCPs) are not well trained and because reimbursement for treatments is not consistent.

Hypothesis: If PCPs have training in weight management and if most costs of treatment are reimbursed, we surmise that a "toolbox" of treatments can produce a clinically important weight loss amount in a large group of patients.

Read more

Design: We propose to establish a registry of obese patients with at least one common medical condition related to their weight. From the registry, we will randomly select 350 people to be offered treatments to assist with weight loss. The remainder of the registry's patients can still receive obesity treatment but will not be reimbursed. We will conduct the study at Denver Health, a large public health care system that treats a low income, ethnically diverse population. All 350 patients will be offered some self-monitoring tools for weight management and the chance to do a computer assessment to select the right treatment for weight loss. Patients who complete this and record their food intake and physical activity for 1 week will be offered a "Level 2" treatment for weight loss. Level 2 treatments include: a voucher for a commercial weight loss program; intensive group weight loss counseling; meal replacements; gym membership; or weight loss medication. Patients will choose which treatment they want, with the approval of their PCP. Researchers at Denver Health will help with the computer assessment and dispensing the treatments. We are interested in what percentage of patients lose at least 5% of their starting weight. We will also explore changes in glucose, blood pressure, and cholesterol, and we will look at how much this intervention costs and whether patients need less medication for their weight-related conditions at the end of the study.

Impact: If the study is successful, we plan to take the results to the leaders at Denver Health to see if they will make obesity treatment more broadly available for all patients there.

Read the detailed description

Background: Obesity is prevalent and is a root cause of many common medical conditions affecting U.S. adults. A range of treatment options have demonstrated efficacy in producing weight loss and reducing health risks in randomized controlled trials. However, very little obesity treatment is currently delivered in most primary care settings. Inadequate reimbursement for treatment modalities and a lack of systematic training of primary care providers (PCPs) are two of the major barriers to more widespread treatment.

Hypothesis: If PCPs are given training and support for weight management, and if treatment options with proven efficacy are offered to obese adults with weight related co-morbidities with the majority of the treatment cost reimbursed, then clinically meaningful weight loss will be produced in a significant number of these individuals at a reasonable cost.

Design: This application proposes a 12 month intervention trial among obese adults cared for at 4 primary care clinics affiliated with Denver Health (DH), an integrated health care system serving an ethnically diverse medically underserved population. From among a large population of patients (~8,000) with obesity and at least one co-morbid condition, 350 individuals will be randomly selected to be offered a "toolbox" of treatment options. The remainder will be assigned to a control condition. The "toolbox" will include: 1) meal replacements; 2) group weight loss counseling; 3) membership at recreation centers; 4) pharmacotherapy with phentermine; and 5) other options. Patients in the intervention arm will undergo an initial evaluation using an "expert systems" computer program. They will then be required to self-monitor diet and physical activity before gaining access to the higher cost weight management services in the toolbox. Primary care providers will help patients choose treatment approaches, encourage adherence, and monitor success. Patient Navigators will assist patients in accessing prescribed treatments. The primary outcome will be the fraction of patients in each group who achieve a 5% weight loss after 12 months of intervention. Secondary outcomes will include uptake and utilization of treatment options, changes in cardiovascular disease risk factors, and other health care utilization, in particular outpatient medications for diabetes, hypertension, and lipids. While the treatment modalities to be used in this trial are not new, an intervention delivering a toolbox of weight management services in a safety net clinical setting and examining the effect on health care utilization is innovative. The submitted letters of support attest to the need for more data so that health care providers and payers can make evidence-based decisions regarding the provision of obesity treatment to large patient populations.

Impact: A positive result would encourage the broader adoption of a toolbox approach to weight management in primary care settings. A negative result would strongly suggest that even with a "best case scenario" of training and support for obesity treatment, the primary care clinic is not an effective route of delivery for weight management. Either result would be important in shaping future policy decisions about obesity treatment.

Conditions
Obesity
Being tested
Commercial weight loss program, Colorado Weigh, Meal replacements, Obesity pharmacotherapy, Recreation center passes
Medical subject headings
Obesity

What participants receive

What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.

  • Commercial weight loss programBehavioural

    vouchers for Weight Watchers

  • Colorado WeighBehavioural

    Group behavioral weight loss program

  • Meal replacementsDietary supplement

    Health Management Resources meal replacement products (shakes and entrees)

  • Obesity pharmacotherapyDrug

    Also called Phentermine or phentermine-topiramate (Qsymia)

    Phentermine or phentermine-topiramate (Qsymia)

  • Recreation center passesBehavioural

    1 year pass to a Denver recreation center

Study groups in NCT01922934
Study groupRoleWhat they receive
InterventionExperimental350 randomly-selected patients at 4 clinics get a "toolbox" of weight loss options, including self-monitoring tools; education materials; recreation center passes; commercial weight loss program (Weight Watchers); intensive group counseling (Colorado Weigh); meal replacements; and obesity pharmacotherapy. The initial assessment, a computer program, takes diet and exercise history and helps patients choose personal treatment goals. Interested patients get a starter kit with self-monitoring tools and meal replacements. Subjects must show self-monitoring of diet and exercise to get more intensive therapies. Patients pay a $5-$10 co-pay for the therapies. They select a primary intensive therapy, but are able to add/change depending on results, adherence and budget availability.
Receives: Behavioral: Commercial weight loss program; Behavioral: Colorado Weigh; Dietary Supplement: Meal replacements; Drug: Obesity pharmacotherapy; Behavioral: Recreation center passes
ControlNo interventionRegistry patients not selected to be offered the toolbox will receive usual care for weight management. Usual care for obesity at DH includes brief weight loss advice provided by PCPs or prescribing of weight loss medication, for which patients pay out of pocket.

What is being measured

The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.

  1. Percentage of Participants Who Achieved >5% Weight Loss at 12 Months

    Participants who had both a baseline and 12 month weight measurement were included. Weight change at 12 months was measured as a percent difference from their starting weight.

    Measured: 1 year

  2. Health Care Utilization - Non-study Clinic Visits

    Evaluation of differences in health care resource utilization between Tool and Control groups during the study period. Health care resource utilization defined as the number of non-study clinic visits.

    Measured: 1 year study period

  3. Health Care Utilization - Laboratory Measurements

    Evaluation of differences in health care resource utilization between Tool and Control groups during the study period. Health care resource utilization defined as the number of number of lab measurements taken during the period (including A1C, creatinine, and lipids).

    Measured: 1 year study period

Secondary outcomes (1)
  1. Documentation of Obesity

    To assess:

    1. Presence of ICD-9 code for obesity in the DHHA registry Control Group
    2. Evidence of a specific intervention for weight management resembling what was offered in the toolbox intervention: weight loss medication prescribed, gym membership, weight loss program or referral to wt loss specialist, and meal replacements

    Measured: 1 year study period

Timeline

From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.

  1. First posted14 Aug 2013 (estimated)
  2. Study startJan 2014
  3. Primary completionAug 2016
  4. Study completionAug 2016

Resources

More details

For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.

Study design
Study type
Interventional
Phase
Phase 4
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomised
Intervention model
Parallel groups
Masking
None (open label)
Enrolment
4,730 participants (actual)
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT01922934
Sponsor's protocol ID
GM3469
Acronym
Toolbox
Status last verified
Feb 2017
First submitted
12 Aug 2013
Last updated
18 Aug 2017
Data monitoring committee
No
Individual data sharing
No

Publications

  • Saxon DR, Chaussee EL, Juarez-Colunga E, Tsai AG, Iwamoto SJ, Speer RB, Heyn H, Kealey EH, Bessesen DH. A Toolbox Approach to Obesity Treatment in Urban Safety-Net Primary Care Clinics: a Pragmatic Clinical Trial. J Gen Intern Med. 2019 Nov;34(11):2405-2413. doi: 10.1007/s11606-019-05222-0. Epub 2019 Aug 26.

    PubMed 31485965
  • Iwamoto S, Saxon D, Tsai A, Leister E, Speer R, Heyn H, Kealey E, Juarez-Colunga E, Gudzune K, Bleich S, Clark J, Bessesen D. Effects of Education and Experience on Primary Care Providers' Perspectives of Obesity Treatments during a Pragmatic Trial. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2018 Oct;26(10):1532-1538. doi: 10.1002/oby.22223. Epub 2018 Sep 26.

    PubMed 30257072

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

A Phase 4 study testing Commercial weight loss program, Colorado Weigh and Meal replacements in people with Obesity, run by Denver Health and Hospital Authority at 1 site in United States.

The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.

Who may be eligible to take part?

The sponsor lists 3 inclusion and 1 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.

Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?

The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 18 Aug 2017. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.

Where is the study taking place?

The record lists 1 site in United States. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.

What are the possible benefits and risks?

They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.

What does this phase mean?

Phase 4 studies take place after a treatment is approved, to learn more about its long-term benefits and risks in everyday use.

Not every study follows the same path, and some studies (observational studies, device studies) have no phase.

Are results available for this study?

Yes. Results are posted in the registry (first posted 18 Aug 2017). A summary is in the For doctors view, and the full results are on ClinicalTrials.gov.

How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?

The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.

What does the primary outcome measure?

Percentage of Participants Who Achieved >5% Weight Loss at 12 Months (time frame: 1 year). The study lists 3 primary outcomes in all. It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.

Where can I read the original study information?

On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT01922934, which also lists 2 linked publications.

Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?

No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.

How often is this information updated?

AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 18 Aug 2017.

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