Baseline serum folate level may be a predictive factor of weight loss in a morbid-obesity-management programme

Prompt identification of responders to non-surgical therapy is of utmost importance in attempting medical treatment in patients with clinically severe obesity before indication of bariatric surgery. The objectives of the present study were to assess the outcome at 1 year of morbidly obese patients undergoing a weight-loss medical programme and to detect baseline predictors of a loss >or=10 % of initial weight at the end of the follow-up. A longitudinal, prospective study of a cohort of morbidly obese patients (n 182; females 78 %; age 40.5 (SD 11.5) years; BMI 45.4 (SD 6.0) kg/m(2)) enrolled in a 1-year obesity-management programme based on lifestyle changes and pharmacological therapy. Significant laboratory and clinical variables were included in a binary logistic regression model in order to identify baseline independent factors for the prediction of a successful outcome in the programme. At 12 months of follow-up, twenty-one subjects (11.5 % of the initial cohort) had lost >or=10 % of baseline weight. A high serum folic acid level was the only independent predictor of weight loss at 1 year. A rise of 1 ng/ml in serum folate increased the chance of success by 28 % (adjusted odds ratio 1.28; 95 % CI 1.04, 1.58). We concluded that a medical-management programme of morbid obesity obtained limited results at 1 year, in agreement with other intervention studies. Serum folate may be useful as a pre-treatment predictor of response to a medical-management programme in patients with morbid obesity. Patients with low basal serum folate levels probably should be urged to change unhealthy eating patterns.