The use of virtual visits for obesity pharmacotherapy in patients with overweight or obesity compared with in-person encounters

Objective This study aimed to demonstrate noninferiority using telehealth in treating obesity with phentermine in patients with BMI >= 27 kg/m(2) with comorbidities or BMI >= 30 compared with the standard in-person approach over a 90-day period. Methods A 12-week, randomized, prospective, single-center, open label trial compared the use of virtual visits versus in-person visits for the treatment of obesity using phentermine. The primary end point was percentage mean change in body weight from baseline to 12 weeks. A noninferiority approach assuming a 3% noninferiority region was used to assess effect size differences. Results The weight loss in the virtual visit arm was noninferior to the in-person arm at all time points. At 12 weeks, the mean change in weight was -6.5% among the virtual group and -7.7% among the in-person group. In addition, 65% of virtual patients and 71% of in-person patients demonstrated a weight reduction of at least 5%. There was no difference in medication tolerance, adherence, and compliance. Conclusions These results indicate that the virtual obesity pharmacotherapy visits in adults aged 18 to 65 years prescribed phentermine are effective and noninferior in achieving meaningful weight loss after 12 weeks. Future clinical trials are needed to better assess the effectiveness of televisits for obesity pharmacotherapy.

Automated summary

This study compares the effectiveness of telehealth and in-person visits for treating obesity with phentermine and finds that telehealth is noninferior in achieving weight loss. Telehealth shows promising results and noninferiority in obesity pharmacotherapy.