Energy Management for Personalized Weight Reduction (EMPOWER) Program: Three-Year Outcome Data

BACKGROUND: The current consensus guidelines for management of pediatric obesity recommend clinic-based, family-centered, multi-disciplinary interventions. It is well reported that these programs often only lead to modest improvements in BMI status. The individual factors that differentiate which patient’s BMI status will improve vs. worsen remains understudied. A retrospective cohort study was conducted to evaluate the outcomes of EMPOWER clinic and identify the participant specific characteristics that predicted BMI status improvement in this population. METHODS: Youth who completed at least 6 visits in EMPOWER were included. Paired t-test was utilized to evaluate the mean change in zBMI, modified BMIz and %BMI(p95) from baseline to 6(th) visit, and multivariate mixed effect models were utilized to analyze effect of baseline characteristics on change in BMI status. RESULTS: 92 participants were included in the analysis, 87% with severe obesity and 66% Hispanic. At the 6(th) visit, there was a significant reduction in zBMI (−0.09 SD, p <0.001) and modified BMIz (−0.0003 SD, p = 0.04) with a small reduction in %BMI(p95) (−1.15 %, p = 0.20). Lower BMI status (p < 0.001) and absence of a comorbidity (p < 0.05) at baseline were predictors of BMI status improvement whereas age, gender, ethnicity, family history of obesity and insurance status were not significant predictors. CONCLUSIONS: Given that implementation of the current guidelines for management of obesity in pediatrics only results in modest BMI status reduction, further investigation is required to understand how the determinants of obesity-related health outcomes can guide development of more innovative, effective interventions for this high risk population.