[Closing the gap in conservative obesity therapy: a fully health insurance-financed obesity program - Prospective analysis of clinical real world data]. / Ausweg aus der Versorgungslücke: Voll Krankenkassen-finanzierte konservative Adipositas-Therapie.

BACKGROUND: The obesity treatment program "Leipziger Adipositasmanagement" is a long-term (i. e., four years long) conservative treatment program which is completely covered by a public health insurance company for patients with obesity grades 2 and 3 (i. e., body mass index > 35 kg/m2). Here we evaluate the effectiveness of the first part of the program which was on average 72 weeks long. METHODS: Body weight, body circumferences, metabolic and psychological parameters were collected prior to the start (t0) and after completion of the first part (t1). The whole first treatment part was completed by 243 persons. The analysis design was a prospective evaluation of clinical real world data. RESULTS: Treatment costs per patient were 2,022 € on average. There were significant clinically meaningful improvements from t0 to t1. On average, patients lost 5 kg (95 % confidence interval, KI 3.8 to 6.2 kg) or 4 % (KI 3.1 to 4.9 %) of their initial body weight. The hemoglobin A1c value decreased from 5.9 % to 5.6 % in all patients and from 6.7 % to 6.2 % in diabetic patients. Further metabolic (e. g., low density lipoprotein and total cholesterol) and psychological (e. g., quality of life) parameters improved significantly as well. CONCLUSIONS: The available real world data show, that an obesity treatment program, which is completely covered by a public health insurance company, can reach a clinically significant weight loss with metabolic improvements. The treatment program "Leipziger Adipositasmanagement" contributes to improving long-term treatment of obesity in Germany.