4. Discussion
obesity
OBESITY, HYPERTENSION
This study analysed the influence of the audiovisual presence of patients’ own specialist doctor in an online intervention programme designed to promote a healthy lifestyle, adherence to the Mediterranean diet, motivation to change eating habits, eating behaviour, and motivation towards PA in patients with an obesity–hypertension phenotype. Our results confirmed the positive effects of the Living Better intervention on BMI [Despite the above, it is worth noting that, regardless of which doctor appeared in the audio-visual material, Living Better still achieved Mediterranean dietary eating habits close to the upper limit of the average adherence range (above 8 points), even though the interventions took place during the COVID-19 confinement period. This is especially interesting given that some studies have demonstrated the negative effects the COVID-19 pandemic had on eating habits in general [Regarding PA, as in previous studies [In this current study, the number of losses in the post-intervention assessments was manifestly higher compared to those from the previous studies [The present study had some limitations worth mentioning. Firstly, participants who enrolled in the study had already demonstrated an initial level of motivation towards engaging in an e-health programme, which may have introduced selection bias. Therefore, our findings may only be applicable to individuals with internet access who are similarly interested in e-health interventions [