Patient perspectives on personalised medicine for obesity: An IMI2 SOPHIA Study

Personalised medicine is seen as an exciting opportunity to improve the health outcomes of people with obesity. As research on phenotyping and personalised treatment for obesity rapidly advances, this study sought to understand patient preferences and perspectives on personalised medicine for obesity.

A participatory world café methodology was used to garner the perspectives of people living with obesity on the potential opportunities and limitations associated with a personalised approach to obesity risk identification and treatment. Data were recorded by participants on tablemats and analysed thematically using thematic analysis.

Patients expressed the hope that personalised medicine for obesity would reduce stigma, support understanding of obesity as a disease, and improve treatment outcomes and acceptance. They also expressed concern about the accuracy of personalised medicine for obesity, its implications for insurance and that further advances in individual, personalised medicine, would detract attention from social, environmental, economic and psychological drivers of obesity.

This study highlights how patients are generally very optimistic about the potential for personalised obesity medicine but also raise a number of legitimate concerns that will be of interest to clinicians, industry, and policy makers.