Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Individual- Versus Group-Based Financial Incentives for Weight Loss

2013; American College of Physicians; Volume: 158; Issue: 7 Linguagem: Inglês

10.7326/0003-4819-158-7-201304020-00002

1539-3704

Jeffrey T. Kullgren, Andrea B. Troxel, George Loewenstein, David A. Asch, Laurie Norton, Lisa Wesby, Yuanyuan Tao, Jingsan Zhu, Kevin G. Volpp,

Global Public Health Policies and Epidemiology

Chinese translation Background: Data on the effectiveness of employer-sponsored financial incentives for employee weight loss are limited. Objective: To test the effectiveness of 2 financial incentive designs for promoting weight loss among obese employees. Design: Randomized, controlled trial. (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01208350) Setting: Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Participants: 105 employees with a body mass index between 30 and 40 kg/m2. Intervention: 24 weeks of monthly weigh-ins (control group; n = 35); individual incentive, designed as $100 per person per month for meeting or exceeding weight-loss goals (n = 35); and group incentive, designed as $500 per month split among participants within groups of 5 who met or exceeded weight-loss goals (n = 35). Measurements: Weight loss after 24 weeks (primary outcome) and 36 weeks and changes in behavioral mediators of weight loss (secondary outcomes). Results: Group-incentive participants lost more weight than control participants (mean between-group difference, 4.4 kg [95% CI, 2.0 to 6.7 kg]; P < 0.001) and individual-incentive participants (mean between-group difference, 3.2 kg [CI, 0.9 to 5.5 kg]; P = 0.008). Twelve weeks after incentives ended and after adjustment for 3-group comparisons, group-incentive participants maintained greater weight loss than control group participants (mean between-group difference, 2.9 kg [CI, 0.5 to 5.3 kg]; P = 0.016) but not greater than individual-incentive participants (mean between-group difference, 2.7 kg [CI, 0.4 to 5.0 kg]; P = 0.024). Limitation: Single employer and short follow-up. Conclusion: A group-based financial incentive was more effective than an individual incentive and monthly weigh-ins at promoting weight loss among obese employees at 24 weeks. Primary Funding Source: National Institute on Aging.