Survey is designed to build understanding of the differing attitudes among obesity patients in North America and Europe
ClinPhone and NCERx recently announced the results of the first survey in an on-going obesity attitudes panel, designed to build understanding of the differing attitudes among obesity patients in North America and Europe.
This is the first of a series of online patient panels to build longitudinal data of changing patient attitudes and opinions in over 40 different disease indications.
The subjects for the obesity panel came from opt-in candidates who are actively seeking information on clinical trials and treatments from the NCERx network of healthcare web sites.
A qualified sample of 7500 subjects out of the database of 27,800 candidates were contacted by email, and of these 1208 (16%) accessed the web-based questionnaire, with 83% requesting participation in the ongoing panel.
Of these, 1050 were randomised into a group that will be surveyed again in December. The initial survey looked at attitudes to government and food industry responsibilities, eating habits and perceptions of weight, obesity and available medications.
In terms of drug therapies, overall only 25.3% of the panel had attempted a prescriptive approach.
Women were over three times more likely (32.2%) to have tried prescribed drug treatments for weight loss than men (9.3%), while American respondents were more likely (28.5%) than British (15.1%) or respondents from other countries (14.8%).
Commenting on patient opinions regarding obesity treatments, Neil Rotherham, CEO of ClinPhone commented: "An important finding for the biopharmaceutical industry is the fact that a high percentage of respondents taking medication for obesity question the efficacy of such treatments.
"Over twenty-seven percent (27.6%) of respondents have used or are using doctor-prescribed drugs for obesity and of this sample, over 60% were not convinced that the medications were effective. "This may be a contributing factor to the number of individuals seeking information on clinical trials for the condition".
In fact, of those who had taken medications for their weight, 29.8% were dissatisfied, 15.7% were very dissatisfied and 14.5% said they were extremely dissatisfied. Over 80% of respondents were currently clinically overweight or obese and 57.3% stated that they are trying to lose weight at the moment.
The most important concern about being overweight reported by over 35% of males and females was the associated health risks.
However, more women than men cited 'How I look' to be the most important concern (22.9% vs 10.6%). Previously recorded medical information enabled NCERx to confirm that these respondents were obese by calculating their body mass indices (BMI).
An individual with a BMI of 25 or greater is considered overweight.
Using the medical information, NCERx was also able to analyse cohorts of these subjects with and without concomitant diabetes.
Interestingly, over 80% of respondents without diabetes believed they were overweight because of their eating habits, compared to around 65% of those with diabetes. Similar proportions believed that a lack of exercise contributed to their being overweight.
Colin Lucas-Mudd, CEO of NCERx, commented: "The difference in attitudes of those subjects who had developed diabetes, and whose BMIs had dropped below 30 within the last year, was particularly interesting (a BMI of more than 30 represents clinical obesity).
"This group had particularly strong views on the self-imposed nature of the condition yet, at the same time, was almost three times as likely to believe that food labelling should be improved or regulated".
The survey was conducted over a ten day period and the findings were analysed and compiled in a published report within the following week.
NCERx medical director Richard Scuderi commented: "The rapid turnaround and high response rates achieved by this survey are in line with our experience.
"We find that visitors to the NCERx healthcare network are highly motivated and actively engaged in their health.
"These users seek impartial and up-to-date information authored by independent medical writers and respond well to questionnaires, surveys and clinical trial screeners.
"The information that we collect, although always confidential, provides important attitudinal, behavioral and psychological insights into the parameters that inform recruitment methodologies for future clinical trials across a range of therapeutic areas".
Covering over 65 medical conditions, together with an extensive range of lifestyle and general interest areas, the Morefocus and NCERx networks reach over 100 million users annually.
The impartial information-driven approach generates a high level of patient and consumer response, creating an unmatched database applicable to patient contact and recruitment applications and reducing recruitment costs for sponsors and investigators.
