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Nutrition and Health (including climate and ecological aspects)

Association between long-term weight loss and obesity-related complications defined by Edmonton obesity staging system: analysis from the NHANES (2011–2018)

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 78, pages 43–47 (2024)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background/Objective

A successful Long-Term Weight Loss (LTWL) is associated with a more favorable metabolic disease risk profile. However, evidence is limited on the association of LTWL with obesity-related complications defined by Edmonton obesity staging system (EOSS). Hence, our study aims to assess the association between LTWL thresholds and obesity-related complications defined by EOSS among the adult US population.

Subjects/Methods

We used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 2011 to 2018. Adults 18 years or older with overweight/obesity and long-term weight loss were included in the analysis. The association between long-term weight loss and obesity-related complications defined by EOSS was investigated. A multivariable logistic regression model was employed by adjusting for potential covariates.

Results

A total of 22,223 adults were included in the analysis. Overall, 61.8% of participants had long-term weight loss of <5%, and 4.8% of participants had successful long-term weight loss of 20% or greater. The highest long-term weight loss threshold ( ≥ 20%) had the lowest odds of EOSS stage ≥ 2 (odds ratio [OR] = 0.60; 95% CI:0.50, 0.72; p < 0.001). The lowest LTWL threshold (5–9.9%) was relatively associated with lower odds for EOSS stage ≥ 2 [OR = 0.69 95% CI: 0.61, 0.78, p < 0.001].

Conclusions

The LTWL categories were significantly associated with lower odds of EOSS stage ≥ 2 compared to EOSS 0 or 1. Future longitudinal research assessing the association between LTWL and EOSS components is recommended.

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Data availability

Data described in the paper, code book, and analytic code will be made available upon request pending.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, School of Public Health, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

    Binyam Girma Sisay & Beshada Rago Jima

  2. Department of Family Medicine and Population Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium

    Hamid Yimam Hassen

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Contributions

The authors’ responsibilities were as follows—BGS, BRJ and HYH conceived and designed the study and performed the data check and analysis: and all authors wrote and revised the paper and read and approved the final paper.

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Correspondence to Binyam Girma Sisay.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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The protocol of the survey was approved by the National Center for Health Statistics Institutional Review Board. Written consent was obtained from all participants.

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Sisay, B.G., Jima, B.R. & Hassen, H.Y. Association between long-term weight loss and obesity-related complications defined by Edmonton obesity staging system: analysis from the NHANES (2011–2018). Eur J Clin Nutr 78, 43–47 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-023-01342-3

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