WPSI: New Recommendations for Preventing Obesity in Adult Women

The Women’s Preventive Services Initiative (WPSI) has released recommendations for primary care practitioners on preventive counseling for maintaining weight, limiting weight gain, and preventing obesity in women aged 40 to 60 years with normal or overweight BMI.

The WPSI recommends counseling midlife women with normal or overweight BMI to maintain weight or limit weight gain, which may include individualized discussions on healthy eating and physical activity. Normal to overweight BMI is defined as a BMI of 18.5 to 29.9 kg/m².

“Although existing recommendations address general recommendations for diet and exercise as well as counseling for adults with obesity or cardiovascular risk factors, recommendations for prevention of obesity in midlife women with normal or overweight BMI have been lacking,” the authors wrote. “The WPSI recommendation fills this gap to help prevent obesity and improve health in midlife women.”

Despite a high prevalence of obesity among midlife women, the coalition found that other recommendations do not address obesity prevention in women aged 40 to 60 years.

The WPSI conducted a systematic review of the effectiveness and harms of interventions that aid in preventing weight gain and obesity in this patient population. To determine their recommendations the WPSI reviewed 7 randomized clinical trials, which included 51,638 participants who used various counseling and behavioral interventions. 

Interventions varied in intensity, approach, frequency, and interval, according to the review. Of the 7 trials reviewed, 4 of 5 trials reported favorable weight changes in women that participated in counseling when compared with control participants. The 2 trials of exercise did not report effectiveness.

The WPSI also considered the harms of these interventions, including adverse psychological effects and self-reported falls and injuries. However, low harms were reported when examining the effectiveness of the interventions.

“Further research is needed to identify optimal behavioral interventions that are effective, feasible, and sustainable, and can be implemented in primary care settings among diverse populations,” the authors wrote.

—Jessica Ganga

Reference:

Chelmow D, Gregory KD, Witkop C, et al. Preventing obesity in midlife women: a recommendation from the women’s preventive services initiative. Ann Intern Med. Published online August 2, 2022. doi:10.7326/M22-0252