Adherence of Obese Patients from Poland and Germany and Its Impact on the Effectiveness of Morbid Obesity Treatment

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate and compare the adherence of patients treated for morbid obesity living in Poland and Germany. Methods: A cross-sectional international multicenter survey design was adopted. The study involved 564 adult subjects treated for morbid obesity at selected healthcare facilities in Germany (210 participants) and Poland (354 participants). A validated, custom-made questionnaire based on the literature related to this issue was used. Results: The degree of adherence was higher, but not statistically significant, among Polish patients (83.82% vs. 78.33%, p = 0.26140). Patient adherence was associated with gender, age, level of education, duration of obesity, number of health professionals involved in obesity treatment, and type of obesity treatment (p < 0.05). A positive correlation was observed in the case of age, level of education, and a growing number of health professionals involved in obesity treatment, whereas a negative correlation was observed in the case of the duration of obesity. Patients who underwent bariatric surgery significantly more often followed medical recommendations regarding lifestyle changes, compared to obese participants treated only conservatively. Adherence in the field of obesity treatment significantly increases the percentage of total weight loss and excess weight loss due to applied obesity treatment among both Polish and German groups (p < 0.001). Both the percentage of total weight loss and that of excess weight loss were significantly higher in the group of adherent patients compared to the nonadherent patients (p < 0.00001). The levels of perceived anxiety, stress, and depression were significantly higher in nonadherent patients in both countries. Conclusions: These findings confirm the role of adherence in the effective and satisfactory treatment of morbid obesity. There is a great need to improve patient adherence to overcome the consequences of the obesity pandemic.

Liraglutide 3.0 mg and Mental Health: Can Psychiatric Symptoms Predict Adherence to Therapy? Insights from a clinical audit

“…Our results align with previous literature on poor adherence to therapy by obese patients presenting anxiety-depressive symptomatology [30]. It is generally known that depression and anxiety are associated with lower compliance and adherence to medication [31][32][33][34].…”

Obesity Duration and Cardiometabolic Disease

“…There remains a need for data from appropriate animal models in the area of obesity duration to provide mechanistic insights critical to deciphering the heterogeneous impact of obesity exposure on disease development. Finally, as limited data suggest that greater durations of obesity are associated with reduced adherence to obesity treatments 97 and may also alter the pharmacokinetics of weight loss medications, 98 any influence of obesity duration on interventions and therapeutics for obesity and related conditions also requires exploration. With insight into the importance of obesity duration, we may improve our treatments to counteract obesity and its related diseases, potentially impacting hundreds of millions of people worldwide who experience chronic obesity and are at high risk for diseases that decrease life expectancy and increase disability.…”

Periodization method of physical exercise for obese people

“…This affects exercise training program adherence in an obese patients (Baillot et al, 2021). Adherence in the field of obesity treatment is very important because good adherence significantly affects the percentage of total weight loss and excess weight loss (Hoffmann et al, 2022). Therefore, it is very important to arrange the exercise regimen carefully in such a way that exercise can ultimately benefit health (Pertiwi et al, 2022).…”