GP referral to weight loss programme is quick and effective, finds study

Most obese patients found it appropriate and helpful when their GP briefly advised them that losing weight would benefit their health on an unrelated issue, but offering referral to a weight loss programme was more effective in achieving weight loss, a randomised trial has found.1

In the trial 1882 obese patients from 137 general practices in England were randomly allocated to one of two 30 second interventions at the end of their consultation: referral to a weight management group or advice that their health would benefit from losing weight. The patients were aged 18 and over and had a …