title: A statewide intervention reduces BMI in adults: Shape Up Rhode Island results.
abstract: Given the epidemic of obesity, approaches to weight loss that can be applied on a community, state, or national level are needed. We report results from Shape Up Rhode Island 2007 (SURI), a statewide Internet-based program involving team-based competition to increase physical activity and achieve weight loss. A total of 4,717 adults (84% women; mean BMI = 29.6 kg/m(2)) enrolled in the 16-week weight loss competition of SURI and 3,311 completed at least 12 weeks. Completers reported losing 3.2 +/- 3.4 kg, and 30% achieved a clinically significant weight loss of >or=5%. Although modest, these weight losses shifted the BMI distribution from a mean BMI of 29.4 to a mean of 28.2 kg/m(2) and reduced the population that was obese from 39 to 31%. More conservative intent-to-treat analyses and analysis of 132 participants with objective weights still showed a significant reduction in BMI of -0.8 units. These findings suggest that statewide weight loss campaigns can produce modest weight losses in large numbers of participants. These data provide a benchmark that can be used for comparisons with other statewide campaigns. Research on ways to improve such campaigns is needed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA. rwing@lifespan.org
authors.forename: Rena R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Wing
authors.forename: Angela M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Pinto
authors.forename: Melissa M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Crane
authors.forename: Rajiv
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: Brad M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Weinberg
authors.forename: Amy A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Gorin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D009939:Organizations, Nonprofit; D050177:Overweight / Q000534:rehabilitation; D018579:Patient Selection; D012016:Reference Values; D012237:Rhode Island / Q000453:epidemiology; D012984:Software; D016138:Walking / Q000502:physiology; D015431:Weight Loss / Q000502:physiology