Home > Focus Areas > Obesity Connect > Post
  • Saved

2yr
Tackling obesity and weight loss

The prevalence of obesity is expected to reach 49% by 2023, and this chronic, relapsing disease is linked to comorbidities, including T2DM, dyslipidemia, hypertension, CAD, stroke, and certain cancers. The total financial costs of chronic conditions linked to obesity are estimated at $1.71 trillion. The effective weight management of patients with obesity is necessary to optimize quality of life, minimize medical and financial costs, and decrease morbidity and mortality.

Various weight-loss interventions have been developed, including diet/exercise lifestyle interventions; antiobesity medications (AOMs); surgical interventions, and endoscopic interventions. AOMs are effective and improve quality of life and decrease the risk of weight-related comorbidities. Nevertheless, AOMs demonstrate a wide variation in the percentage of weight loss, between 5% and 12%, per the results of clinical trials.

Five FDA-approved AOMs are semaglutide, liraglutide, orlistat, phentermine plus topiramate, and naltrexone plus bupropion. These drugs are indicated for long-term use in patients with a BMI ≥ 30 without weight-related comorbidities and a BMI ≥ 27 in those with weight-related comorbidities.

Are you discussing anti-obesity medications with your patients more proactively? Please share your current comfort in prescribing anti-obesity medications.

Profile Image
  • 2yr
    Yes, many patients are requesting medications for weight loss. Ozempic, Mounjaro, Wegovy. I am comfortable discussing and prescribing.
  • 2yr
    now more than ever, with success in GLP-1's, there are ever more awareness of the options, and more and more patients requesting rx for wt loss, it makes it easier to discuss and manage
  • 2yr
    Obesity is a chronic disease and insurance companies should support weight loss medication such as the GLP1, phentermine, Contrave, etc. I prescribe all of these in order to help my patients.
  • 2yr
    I have discussed obesity for years with patients. I have been open about treatment options they want to try but I tell them you cannot diet your entire life. Making easy dietary changes that they can stick with. We also discuss medication options like was mentioned with GLP-1 therapy. I also tell them nothing is magic and it requires attention to making different choices in their foods, exercise, and medication.
  • 2yr
    My care of patients suffering from obesity has increased alot since the pandemic. I do alot of the management through telehealth. As long as the patient has a good scale and can monitor their blood pressure. I am prescribing the GLP1 agents, phentermine, vyvanse, contrave, wellbutrin, naltrexone just to name a few. The patients are very motivated!
  • 2yr
    Yes I am the discussing different options of obesity treatment, including medications like glp-1 ra, and for diabetics Mounjaro.
  • 2yr
    obesity management is a very normal part of my practice. half the time the patient will bring up losing weight and will volunteer a medication name that they are interested in, the other half i bring up weight loss at the lab review visit after the physical. I re evaluate their labs to know if metabolic, diabetes or cardiovascular health is a comorbidity and that guides me with what direction to go to regarding medication. then the next barrier is the insurance coverage of the medications. i usually have a back up plan or two back ups with the expectation that the sglt-1, 2 medications will be denied.
  • 2yr
    I am talking to my patients about AOMs as they are becoming more accessible. I am more than happy to prescribe but limited to what patients can afford. After great results with my T2DM patients on Ozempic, I am motivated to prescribe Wegovy. I usually prescribe phentermine + topiramate but I am seeing faster and larger gains with semaglutide. I am an advocate for my patients and hope that we can get more insurance policies to cover obesity medications.
  • 2yr
    Yes. Many patients have a desire to lose weight and voice their frustration and various diets / methods that have been unsuccessful. This has led to being unmotivated to attempt to lose weight. Often I discuss weight loss and importance of diet and exercise to maintain weight and prevent weight gain with use of medicine to help 'jump start' weight loss and bring back the lost motivation that occurred due to unsuccessful prior attempts. Many have showed an interest in trying the newer agents like Wegovy, Saxenda, Contrave, Adipex. I make a clear distinction to patients that there are medicines like Ozempic, Victoza and Mounjaro that cause weight loss but their indications by the manufacturer is to treat Type 2 Diabetes. I also point out which of their current medicines may be responsible for weight gain. I strongly stress that medicine can help with weight loss, but discipline with diet and exercise will prevent it from returning.
  • 2yr
    obesity is chronic disease like HTN , Diabetes and Hyperlipidemia and needs to be managed in the context and perspective for life long management with meds and surgical options if indicated . GLP-1 agonist have changed the landscape of the pharmacological management of obesity and the other meds have gone in background (rightly so) So yes I am very proactive in discussion GLP-1 with the pts for weight loss and if covered by insurance do prescribe it and in obese diabetics it is an automatic choice !
  • 2yr
    Yes. I actually could tell that patients would have a hard time asking and quite frankly it isn’t something easy to bring up. Years ago, I put a white board in my waiting room to put our various messages for marketing purposes. I decided that patients needed to know that I would help them lose weight. I wrote “ask me about managing your weight”. I have been helping at least 5 patients a day with overweight and obesity ever since. Medications are about 99% involved. I’d say about 40% have had a gastric procedure. Relapse is a real thing. Glp1 meds are and should be the gold standard.
  • 2yr
    I discuss weight with all of my pts and review CHO counting and need ot diet and prescribe all GLP-1 as appropriate and by PI for T2DM and obesity. Many pts are calling the offcie to see if we RX for obeisty and have to be told under the right circumstances
  • 2yr
    Yes a lot
  • 2yr
    I usually require a patient to add objectively to their weight loss treatment when prescribing GLP-1s, I ask they count calories or make a serious attempt to do so, would you be a runner and never measure you time? Or a weight lifter and never care about the amount lifted, then why do we have weight losers who do not care about counting calories or measure steps? Then I ask for the calorie counts on f/u and give GLP-1s for them to be more successful in meeting their calorie restricted counts.
  • 2yr
    Definitely i am addressing w every patient w obesity or overweight with comorbidities. I prescribe almost all of them.
  • 2yr
    yes, more proactively when a patient is motivated to lose weight. This conversation will include medications.
  • 2yr
    I am always proactive discussing these medications/ pharmaceutical options but always hand in hand with lifestyle changes. I lean more towards GLP1 agents but at times there have been supply issues - most recently wegovy. I believe these issues are being addressed and hopefully in a few months we should have a more reliable supply
  • 2yr
    Yes
    I’m discussing weight loss and new treatments with patients regularly…in fact most of them have knowledge of the Glp1 class and Mounjaro and they seem to be accepting of them…I recommend them as well as Contrave regularly.
  • 2yr
    I have been prescribing all these (save for orlistat). I proactively discuss these pharmaceutical options with the cornerstone of diet and lifestyle changes. I usually lean more on semaglutide and liraglutide if patients are willing to inject. Unfortunately lately, there have been supply issues
  • 2yr
    Yes , I discuss treatment with medications for obesity
    Especially now there are newer medications to treat obesity like ozempic, wegovy , mounjaro which are very effective to treat obesity with weight loss of up to 25%
  • 2yr
    Yes. I have and am comfortable discussing and prescribing.
  • 2yr
    As the options have been greater and more widely available, and given the immense success of the rx for wt loss, especially GLP-1's, there is a boom, almost a trend for pharmacological wt loss management. Patients are more actively asking for tx as well as providers offering more options as clinical success warrants.
  • 2yr
    i have always been proactive regarding weight loss management. Since the availability of ozempic, mounjaro and wegovy, more and more patients are initiating this conversation especially women and gay men.
  • 2yr
    As we all know we are in the semaglutide and tirzepatide Era and most patients are are requesting medication for weight loss. Weight loss discussions are actually apart of any family practice or psychiatry appointments that I see patients for.

Show More Comments