Barriers and facilitators in implementing a pilot, pragmatic, telemedicine-delivered healthy lifestyle program for obesity management in a rural, academic obesity clinic.

Purpose: Few evidence-based strategies are specifically tailored for disparity populations such as rural adults. Two-way video-conferencing using telemedicine can potentially surmount geographic barriers that impede participation in high-intensity treatment programs offering frequent visits to clinic facilities. We aimed to understand barriers and facilitators of implementing a telemedicine-delivered tertiary-care, rural academic weight-loss program for the management of obesity.

Feasibility and acceptability of a rural, pragmatic, telemedicine-delivered healthy lifestyle programme.

Background: The public health crisis of obesity leads to increasing morbidity that are even more profound in certain populations such as rural adults. Live, two-way video-conferencing is a modality that can potentially surmount geographic barriers and staffing shortages.

Methods: Patients from the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Weight and Wellness Center were recruited into a pragmatic, single-arm, nonrandomized study of a remotely delivered 16-week evidence-based healthy lifestyle programme.

Prevalence of Sarcopenia Obesity in Patients Treated at a Rural, Multidisciplinary Weight and Wellness Center.

Sarcopenic obesity portends poor outcomes, yet it is under-recognized in practice. We collected baseline clinical data including data on body composition (total and segmental muscle mass and total body fat), grip strength, and 5-times sit-to-stand. We defined sarcopenia using cut-points for appendicular lean mass (ALM) and obesity using body-fat cut-points.