Findings from this secondary analysis indicate that young adults are dramatically underrepresented in BWL studies. Only 7% of most participants were ≤35 years. Furthermore, those few young adults who did enroll didn’t fare as well as old participants,
Findings from this secondary analysis indicate that young adults are dramatically underrepresented in BWL studies. Only 7% of most participants were ≤35 years. Furthermore, those few young adults who did enroll didn’t fare as well as old participants, as evidenced by poorer attendance and retention rates, and poorer weight loss.
Moreover, these differences remained after matching both young adults and adults on gender even, race, study and ethnicity, indicating that age contributes to these disparities above and beyond related demographic factors exclusively. It’s important to note that although weight losses attained by young adults in these trials were significantly lesser than those attained by older participants, differential retention and attendance seems to be driving these findings.
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