Weight loss and African-American women: a systematic review of the behavioural weight loss intervention literature

Abstract

The excess burden of obesity among African-American women is well documented. However, the behavioural weight loss intervention literature often does not report results by ethnic group or gender. The purpose of this article is to conduct a systematic review of all behavioural weight loss intervention trials published between 1990 and 2010 that included and reported results separately for African-American women. The criteria for inclusion included (i) participants age ≥18 years; (ii) a behavioural weight loss intervention; (iii) weight as an outcome variable; (iv) inclusion of African-American women; and (v) weight loss results reported separately by ethnicity and gender. The literature search identified 25 studies that met inclusion criteria. Our findings suggest that more intensive randomized behavioural weight loss trials with medically at-risk populations yield better results. Well-designed and more intensive multi-site trials with medically at-risk populations currently offer the most promising results for African-American women. Still, African-American women lose less weight than other subgroups in behavioural weight loss interventions. It is now critical to expand on individual-level approaches and incorporate the biological, social and environmental factors that influence obesity. This will help enable the adoption of healthier behaviours for this group of women disproportionately affected by obesity.

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest Statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

© 2011 The Authors. obesity reviews © 2011 International Association for the Study of Obesity.

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