Baseline Psychosocial and Demographic Factors Associated with Study Attrition and 12‐Month Weight Gain in the DIETFITS Trial

Abstract

Objective The purpose of this study was to examine correlates of failure—trial attrition and weight gain—in a randomized clinical weight‐loss trial. Methods The Diet Intervention Examining The Factors Interacting with Treatment Success (DIETFITS) trial included 609 adults (18‐50 years; BMI 28‐40). Participants were randomized to a 12‐month healthy low‐fat or healthy low‐carbohydrate diet for weight loss. At baseline, participants completed psychosocial, demographic, and anthropometric measures. Stepwise logistic regressions identified baseline factors associated with (1) study attrition and (2) among trial completers, weight gain at 12 months. Results Having higher baseline food addiction and self‐efficacy was linked to treatment failure. Being younger, not having a college education, having higher outcome expectations and quality of life, and having lower social functioning and self‐control increased the odds of trial attrition. Identifying as other than non‐Hispanic white; not being married or cohabitating; having higher cognitive restraint and self‐control; and having lower amotivation, family encouragement, and physical limitations increased the odds of gaining weight by treatment’s end. Conclusions Participants’ baseline psychosocial and demographic factors may support or impede successful weight loss. Trialists should attend to these factors when designing treatments in order to promote participants’ likelihood of completing the trial and achieving their weight‐loss goals.

Prevalence of food addiction in children and adolescents: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

“…Together with the consideration of the aforementioned limitations, future studies could consider the following steps to provide additional understanding of FA impacts on children and adolescents. First, a recent study 52 found that the YFAS was the strongest predictor of poor response to weightloss treatment among adults; however, it is unclear whether the same results can be replicated among children. Notably, there is a dearth of research investigating how the YFAS‐C predicts treatment outcomes in children.…”

Is Food Addictive? A Review of the Science

“…YFAS scores also appear to be clinically relevant. Although some studies have not found a link between YFAS scores and response to weight-loss treatments (80), a recent large-scale weight-loss treatment trial found that YFAS scores were the strongest psychosocial predictor of attrition and failure to lose weight (40). The literature is mixed regarding the predictive utility of presurgery YFAS scores for response to weight-loss surgery.…”

Food Addiction and Its Relationship to Weight- and Addiction-Related Psychological Parameters in Individuals With Overweight and Obesity

“…In general, FA symptom severity is associated with higher BMI ( Pursey et al, 2014 ). Some studies report higher study attrition and lower effectiveness of WLPs in individuals experiencing FA, while other studies did not find differences to individuals who are not experiencing FA ( Burmeister et al, 2013 ; Clark and Saules, 2013 ; Meule et al, 2015 ; Fielding-Singh et al, 2019 ). Yet, the prevalence of FA in WLP samples is high (up to 34,5–38%; Meule et al, 2015 ; Vidmar et al, 2021 ).…”