184351 A Pharmacist Developed Weight Loss Program for

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Steven T. Boyd, PharmD, BCPS, CDE , Causey's Pharmacy & DCAS, Xavier University of Louisiana - College Pharmacy, Natchitoches, LA
Jesse (Pete) Cooke, PhD , Xavier University of Louisiana, New Orleans, LA
Purpose: Develop and analyze the effectiveness of a comprehensive weight loss program for African Americans women.

Research Design and Methods:

A 26-week prospective study. Forty subjects were recruited from Causey's Pharmacy and randomly assigned to a treatment or control group. Eligibility included African American women with a body mass index of 27 to 40 kg/m2 between ages of 18 to 65 years. Patients with any history of major cardiovascular disease were excluded. All patients received an approval from their physician for the exercise regimen for a health gym with an exercise trainer. A pharmacist and/or dietician saw the treatment group every two weeks; the control group received standard of care recommendations for weight loss.

Results:

At week 26 there was significant weight loss in the treatment group (-10.55lbs (p=<0.0001));. There was also a significant reduction in waist circumference (WC) in the treatment group of 2.1 inches (p=0.001). With regards to secondary endpoints there were additional benefits in the treatment group: decreased total cholesterol, LDL, and SBP , and increase in HDL. Of the twenty patients within the treatment group eleven patients (55%) became regular exercisers.

Conclusion: A weight loss program managed from a community pharmacy can serve as a venue to assist African American women to improve their health in the areas of weight, blood pressure, cholesterol reduction, and exercise involvement. However, a larger study is needed adequately assess the effectiveness to standard of care.

Learning Objectives:
1) Discuss if the African American community will benefit from a weight loss clinic within an independent community pharmacy 2) List ways the weight loss clinic can have an impact on weight, blood pressure, and cholesterol.

Keywords: Obesity, Pharmacies

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I was the planner and coordinator of the project.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

See more of: Discussion: Novel Approaches to Obesity Prevention
See more of: Public Health Education and Health Promotion