e-Dietician in General Practice

Obesity is according to WHO one of the greatest health challenges of our time. The aim of the pilot project was to investigate the weight loss efficacy and the cost of individual dietetic internet-based consultations in a Danish medical centre in combination with an internet community. A total of 46 obese patients in general practice were offered participation in a cohort study during May 15th to December 1st 2008. Patients from three different health centers were included. 32 patients gave informed consent to participate and were given access to weekly e-mail consultations with a dietician and access to an advanced internet community. The weight was objectively decided by inclusion and conclusion of the study. 22 (17 women and 5 men) completed the study. The average age was 41 years, the weight was 103 kg and the BMI was 36.7 kg/m². After four months (42-168 days) of treatment and averagely 17 consultations the participants accomplished an average weight loss of 6.3 kg, p<0.001. Nine participants accomplished a weight loss of 5-10 kg and four participants accomplished a weight loss of over 10 kg. There was no significant association between weight loss and treatment duration or between weight loss and the amount of consultations (p=0.3). The individual expense to prevention- and e-mail consultations was 1,165 DKK. In comparison the expense of 3 months of conventional treatment with 6-8 visits would be 1,3001,700 DKK. We conclude that weight loss as a result of e-consultations is comparable with conventional weight loss treatments in general practice. The utilization of e-mail consultations can furthermore result in a saving in expenses and premises if the e-mail correspondences are held outside of the health centre.