Weight-loss programs in convenient care clinics: a prospective cohort study.

Purpose: Assess whether a convenient care clinic (CCC) medical weight-loss program can promote weight loss.

Design: Prospective cohort study with follow-up at 10 weeks.

Setting: A CCC (Lindora Health Clinic) weight-loss program (Lean for Life) based in a retail pharmacy (Rite Aid Pharmacy) in Costa Mesa, California.

Subjects: The first 100 people to purchase the weight-loss program.

Intervention: A 10-week, $465 medical weight-loss program with individual counseling sessions; a hypocaloric diet of 900 to 1200 kcal/day (25%-30% carbohydrates, 40% protein, 25% fat); and adjunctive pharmacologic treatment, if necessary.

Measures: We collected data on age, height, weight, visits per week, medication use, comorbid conditions, and weight change.

Analysis: Data were analyzed based on length of enrollment and mean percent weight loss. Statistical tests used were t-test and Spearman rank correlation test.

Results: Eighty-six subjects had valid data entries for weight change over the 10-week period. Average age was 51.6 years; mean starting body mass index was 30.3. Thirty patients participated for 0 to 4 weeks, 30 for 4 to 9 weeks, and 26 for 10 weeks. Mean percent weight changes for the 0 to 4, 5 to 9, and 10-week groups were -1.6, -6.0, and -8.1, respectively. Forty-five (45%) of the patients achieved medically significant weight loss (> or =5%).

Conclusion: The study shows that a medical weight-loss program offered at a CCC in a retail pharmacy can produce medically significant weight loss of > or =5%. Further research of collaborations between the retail and medical weight-loss industries is warranted. Study design limitations included selection bias and confounding variables other than the weight-loss program.