Study design
This investigation was a part of a randomized, controlled study that consisted of a two-phase trial that examined two strategies for maintaining weight loss, as previously reported [9, 10]. The weight loss phase provided an intensive program of cognitive behavioral therapy for weight loss that lasted 7 months. Participants who lost at least 5% of their initial body weight during the weight loss phase were eligible for a 3-month program that was provided for the weight maintenance phase. In this phase, the participants were randomized to one of our two weight loss maintenance interventions; CBT including or not including a program to increase adherence to exercise. Follow-ups were done every 6 months for 2 years after the end of the intervention. All of the participants provided informed consent, and the Institutional Review Board of Kyushu University Hospital approved the study protocol.
Eligibility
All of the participants were women aged 20 to 65 years with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 25 kg/m2 or higher. They were able to understand and complete self-report questionnaires written in Japanese, without assistance, and had no physical impairment that would preclude simple exercise. Those who met the following criteria were excluded from the study: weight loss of more than 5 kg during the previous 6 months, current diagnosis of bulimia nervosa, past history of anorexia nervosa, current pregnancy or breast feeding, planning to become pregnant within the next 24 months, taking any form of medication that would affect body weight, suffering from any health disorder that would affect body weight, receiving nasal continuous positive airway pressure (nCPAP) therapy for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), currently receiving treatment for a psychiatric disorder, or planning to move within the next 10 months.
Recruitment and entry
We recruited participants through a local newspaper, the university website, posters in the university hospital and hospitals near the university, and a television program. Those who were interested and potentially eligible were scheduled for an information session to learn more about the study. At the information session, the principal investigator provided the details of the study and answered questions from the participants. Those who met the eligibility criteria were enrolled. After informed consent was obtained, demographic, lifestyle, social status, and health history data were collected.
Binge eating disorder was diagnosed according to the criteria of the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) [11].
Weight loss intervention
Cooper et al. originally developed this CBT program for obesity [12]. We modified it for use in a group therapy program [13] that included the clinical guidelines on obesity of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) [14], the Action for Health in Diabetes (Look AHEAD) Study [15], and the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) [16] as a framework.
Our treatment program was conducted in small groups of approximately 10 people. It consisted of 40 group sessions (30 sessions for the weight loss phase and ten sessions for the weight maintenance phase, each lasting 90 min), and five individual sessions over a 44-week period. The sessions were conducted once a week for the first 34 sessions, with the remaining four held every other week.
The healthcare providers were two physicians who are fully qualified psychotherapists with specialized training in CBT and two certified nutritionists. In the weight loss phase, all participants received a common CBT. They were instructed to keep a daily food diary to track their consumption of all food and drinks and to record their daily number of steps from a pedometer. They were also advised to reduce their dietary intake by 500 cal per day from their caloric intake at the beginning of therapy. The nutritionists checked the nutritional balance of the participants’ diets by examining their food intake diaries and advised the participants about the importance of eating vegetables and reducing the consumption of fatty foods and sweets. The participants were advised to increase their level of physical exercise to a moderate intensity, such as walking 8000–10,000 steps per day by the end of the 7 weeks. Furthermore, a series of lectures on stress management was conducted over eight sessions that included cognitive restructuring, problem solving, and assertion training. During the weight maintenance phase, all participants were instructed to keep their body weight between ± 2 kg of their weight at the end of the weight loss phase. They were randomized to one of two types of CBT in this phase. One was an exercise-with-adherence group and the other was a booster group. Participants who were randomized to the exercise-with-adherence group received CBT that was intended to increase their adherence to exercise, along with nutrition counseling and instruction in stress management. The participants randomized to the booster group received a review and reinforcement of what they had learned in the weight loss phase.
Anthropometric and body composition measurement
At the entry visit, a fully automatic measuring system (Fancics MX-300) was used to measure height and body weight. Measurement of body weight was done once a week by the patient (on their treatment session day) in the morning in light indoor clothes without shoes. The recorded weight was reported to our staff at each session and follow-up session. BMI was calculated as weight (kg)/height (m2).
Assessment of obesity-related comorbidities
Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and Hypertension (HT) were assessed as obesity-related comorbidities. The diagnosis of T2DM was based on the following Japan Diabetes Society criteria: fasting plasma glucose ≥126 mg/dL, symptoms of diabetes plus casual plasma glucose ≥200 mg/dL, or HbA1c ≥6.5% [17]. Patients with a positive history of diabetes and using diabetic medication before entry were also classified as having diabetes despite normal values for fasting plasma glucose or HbA1c while on medication. HT was diagnosed when a participant had been diagnosed with HT before entry and was receiving therapy for HT at entry or when the mean value of two measurements of systolic blood pressure was ≥140 mmHg or diastolic pressure was ≥ 90 mmHg at entry [18].
Psychological assessment
All participants completed a battery of self-reported psychosocial inventories before and at the end of the weight loss phase.
Depression
Depression was evaluated using the Japanese version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D), for which test-retest reliability and concurrent validity have been thoroughly documented [19]. The CES-D is a 20-item, self-report questionnaire. The scores range from 0 to 60, with a higher score indicating the presence of depressive symptoms [20].
Anxiety
Anxiety was evaluated using the Japanese version of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), validated by Nakazato and Nizuguchi [21]. The STAI is a self-report questionnaire consisting of two scales: STAI-1 assesses state-anxiety and STAI-2 assesses trait-anxiety. Each scale consists of 20 items that indicate the presence or absence of anxiety symptoms [22].
Binge eating
Binge eating was evaluated using the Binge Eating Scale (BES) [23]. It is a 16-item instrument designed to measure the behavioral and emotional/cognitive symptoms associated with binge eating. We translated the original BES into Japanese and back-translated it. Although it has not yet been standardized, Cronbach’s alpha for the overall scale was 0.867 in the present study, thus we consider it to have good reliability.
Eating behavior
Eating behavior was evaluated using the Japanese version of the Three Factors Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ), for which high consistency and construct validity have been confirmed for use with patients who are obese and overweight [24]. The 51-item TFEQ consists of three eating behavior factors; Restraint, Disinhibition, and Hunger [25]. Restraint refers to the tendency of some people to restrict food intake in order to control their body weight. Disinhibition is overconsumption of food in response to a variety of stimuli, such as emotions or alcohol. Hunger refers to food intake in response to feelings and perceptions of hunger.
Food addiction
Food addiction was evaluated using the Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS). The YFAS is a 25-item tool that assesses addictive-like eating behaviors in the previous 12 months [6]. The YFAS provides two scoring outputs; a total ‘symptom score’ and a ‘diagnosis’ of food addiction. The ‘symptom score’ was used in the present study. We translated the original YFAS into Japanese and back-translated it. Although it has not yet been standardized, Cronbach’s alpha for the overall scale was 0.723 in the present study, thus we consider it to have adequate reliability.
Follow-up
After the 10-month weight loss and weight maintenance intervention, the participants were instructed to measure and record their body weight every week and to visit the hospital every 6 months for follow-up. In the follow-up sessions, the participants showed the record of their body weight to the investigators. No intervention for weight loss or maintenance was done at the follow-up sessions. Participants who could not attend a follow-up session were instructed to send their body-weight recording sheet to the investigators. For participants who did not attended a follow-up session or send the body weight recording sheet, the investigators phoned or e-mailed to ask their body weight.
Successful weight loss maintenance
Successful weight maintenance in the present study was defined as having lost more than 10% of the initial weight at the end of the weight loss phase and maintaining at least the 10% loss at the 12- and 24-month follow-ups, following the criteria proposed in the National Weigh Loss Registry study by Wing and Hill [26]. Maintaining a 10% weight loss for it least 1 year is reasonable from a health benefit viewpoint because weight loss of this magnitude can produce substantial improvements in the risk factors for diabetes and heart disease [14]. Furthermore, the findings of the National Weight Control Registry (NWCR) suggested that if individuals can succeed at maintaining their weight loss for 2 years, they can reduce their risk of subsequent regain by nearly 50% [27]. Therefore, in the present study, we followed the participants for 2 years after the intervention and evaluated them as having successful or unsuccessful weight maintenance at both 1 and 2 years after the end of treatment.
Statistical analysis
The weight loss maintenance pattern was first analyzed by comparing the characteristics of the subjects deemed successful or unsuccessful at the 12-month and 24-month follow-ups. A two-sample t-test was used for comparisons between the two groups. The χ
2-test or Fisher’s exact test was used to compare nominal data. The variables significant (P < 0.05) or near significance (P < 0.1) in univariate analysis were then examined as independent variables in direct multiple logistic regression, with successful weight loss maintenance as the dependent variable. The Benjamini-Hochberg procedure was used to control the significance level for increased Type 1 error rate related to multiple significance tests [28]: comparison after multiple logistic regression was done of each individual p-value to a corrected p-value, (ί/m) q, where ί is the rank, m is the total number of tests, and q (false discovery rate) is set at 0.1. All statistical analyses were performed with the JMP pro 13.0 software package (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, North Carolina, USA). A P value <0.05 was considered significant.