North American Weight Management Programs for People Living With Chronic Kidney Disease: An Environmental Scan

BACKGROUND: The availability and accessibility of patient-centered weight management programs is critical to mitigate the increasing prevalence of obesity in people living with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Little is known about the availability of contemporary programs that can safely and effectively support individuals living with obesity and CKD across North America. OBJECTIVE: We sought to identify weight management programs specific to those with CKD and explore their safety, affordability, and adaptability to this patient population. We also identified the barriers and facilitators of identified programming including their accessibility to real-world patients (eg, cost, access, support, and time). DESIGN: Environmental scan of weight management programs. SETTING: North America. PATIENT: People living with CKD. METHODS: We identified weight management programs and associated barriers and facilitators, via an Internet-based search of commercial, community-based, and medically supervised weight management programming. We also conducted a gray literature search and contacted weight management experts and program facilitators to explore strategies as well as their barriers and facilitators. RESULTS: We identified 40 weight management programs available to people living with CKD across North America. Programs were commercial (n = 7), community-based (n = 9), and medically supervised (Canada n = 13, U.S n = 8) in origin. Three programs were specifically tailored to CKD (n = 3). In addition to formal programs, we also identified online nutritional resources and guidelines for weight loss in CKD (n = 8), and additional strategies (self-management tools, group orientated programs, moderate energy restrictions in conjunction with exercise and Orlistat) for weight loss from the gray literature (n = 3). Most common barriers were difficulty accessing some of the suggested nutritious food options due to the high cost, lack of support from family, friends and health practitioners, the time commitment required to participate, and the exclusion from weight management programs due to unique dietary needs for the CKD population. Most common facilitators were programs that were patient-centered, evidence-based, and offered both group and individual formats. LIMITATIONS: Although our search criteria were broad, it is possible that we did not capture all weight management programs available across North America. CONCLUSIONS: This environmental scan has generated a resource list of existing safe and effective programs for or adaptable to people with CKD. This information will inform future efforts to develop and deliver CKD-specific weight management programs to patients living with comorbid disease. Engaging people living with CKD to understand the acceptability of these programs, is an important focus for future research.