HMC Supplement Progress Report – WEIGHT LOSS

February 2006

Supplement Title:                 Predictors of Long-Term Successful Weight Loss

Supplement Chair/
Affiliation:                             Suzanne Phelan, PhD - Brown Medical School / The Miriam Hospital

Purpose:                               To 1) identify the latent cluster of environmental, dispositional, and behavioral factors that best                                              distinguish a group of Long-Term Successful Weight Losers from a group of overweight Unsuccessful                                              Weight Losers; 2) examine whether the latent cluster of factors may be used to predict who, among                                              those losing weight after 6 months of treatment, will remain successful at 12 and 18-month follow-                                             ups; 3) compare the relative importance of each latent factor (i.e., environmental, dispositional, and                                              behavioral) in predicting successful weight loss at 12 and 18-month follow-ups; and, 4) determine                                              whether the same cluster of latent factors are associated with successful weight loss in Caucasian
                                             and African-American participants.

Weight Loss
Supplement Group:
(In addition to HMCRC Members)

Progress to Date:  The Co-Investigators on this project have developed and agreed upon the packet of measures for this study and
are currently administering the measures at each of the three study sites.  These measures assess environmental, behavioral, and psychosocial domains.  All three sites have begun recruitment; the Gorin and Lowe sites, which are treatment studies, have also
begun treatment.  Our analysis plan is being refined and we are preparing to conduct preliminary analyses in the next few months.

Challenges to Date:  We have made fairly smooth progress.  As the sites are using different methods to administer questionnaires (i.e., scannable forms vs. manual entry forms), each site has formatted the questionnaires to fit their needs.  The Wing site has exceeded recruitment goals and is employing different strategies to improve minority representation in the sample.   Recruitment at
the other sites has also progressed on schedule.

Next Steps:  Frequent meetings with the statistician will occur to finalize our analysis plan.  We will also begin assembling baseline data from the three study sites and prepare to conduct the first stage of our analyses, comparing “successful” and “unsuccessful” weight losers, in upcoming months.   After treatment is completed (at the Gorin and Lowe sites), we will begin analyzing predictors of weight regain across the studies.