SMARTer weight loss management

Project Summary This application proposes to compare an optimized, resource-efficient, adaptive obesity treatment against a gold-standard fixed treatment package and assessment only control. The obesity pandemic continues unabated, presaging an onslaught of diabetes. Despite numerous initiatives, gold standard Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) intensive multicomponent behavioral treatment for overweight and obesity remains too expensive, burdensome, and difficult to scale to suggest that it can be provided to the 2/3 of the population that needs to lose weight. To address this challenge, we strive to optimize less burdensome treatment approaches that can maximize weight loss in the population that has obesity with reduced resource expenditure. In the SMART Weight Loss Management trial, we randomly assigned 400 adults with overweight/obesity to a stepped care weight loss intervention in which first line treatment was either 1) a smartphone app alone (App) or 2) the app plus coaching (App + C). Participants who did not attain adequate weight loss (i.e., averaging >0.5 lb/week) were classified as nonresponders, and re-randomized to be stepped up by a modest or vigorous addition of treatment components. Preliminary Results showed that: 1) More patients achieved clinically meaningful 6 month weight loss with App + C than App; 2) App + C non-responders who adhered to the vigorous step-up (text message and meal replacement) lost as much weight as responders by 12-months. These compelling findings point to a need to test the efficacy of SMARTER stepped-care intervention in a randomized controlled trial. The SMARTer trial is a three-arm, non-inferiority randomized controlled trial that compares the optimized, adaptive SMARTer intervention against gold-standard DPP and Control. The trial will address whether a scalable, stepped-care intervention can stand up to gold-standard DPP by achieving comparable weight loss at less cost. If so, we will emerge with a scalable, effective intervention that tailors to patient response using a stepped-care model. Alongside evaluation of clinical non- inferiority, a comprehensive economic analysis will inform relative affordability and scalability. Hypotheses are that: 1) SMARTer stepped-care will be non-inferior to gold standard DPP in its effect on 6 month weight loss; and 2) The SMARTer intervention will be more cost-effective to implement. We will explore whether extending the SMARTer intervention results in weight loss maintenance at 12 months compared to DPP and Control. Lastly, we will explore mediators and moderators of SMARTer's effect on weight loss to inform future intervention optimization. If successful, findings will support dissemination of a cost-effective obesity population management strategy that facilitates treating obesity with the resources it needs – not more, and not less.