[Analysis of the implementation of a Professional Pharmaceutical Service in Nutrition after 12 years operation]

In 2012, a Professional Pharmaceutical Nutrition Service was implemented in a Lanzarote Pharmacy. This service offers nutritional and dietary advice and follow-up to study the evolution. After the 12 years, an analysis has been carried out including all the patients who have been part of the service.

With the information from the successive interviews, a quasi-experimental study has been developed in which different variables are studied, both qualitative (sex, age, diseases suffered) and quantitative (weight, height, BMI, % body fat, blood pressure values, blood glucose values, number of visits). The time frame is from March 2012 to March 2024. The study population is all the patients who attended the consultation after the implementation of the service.

The sample consisted of 1,638 patients. It is observed that most of the patients are women. The main objective is to lose weight in 98.7% of cases, increase weight in 0.5% and control biochemical parameters in 0.8%. After inclusion in the service, the obesity rate was reduced from 70.1% before the first intervention to 20.3% after the last consultation. Normal weight rates increased from the initial 3.1 to the final 30.2. There are statistically significant differences between the number of visits and the weight loss obtained, with more weight loss the more appointments there are. In addition, the number of symptoms and pathologies present in overweight or obese patients decreases with weight loss.

The community pharmacy can be a key center to combat the high numbers of overweight and obesity in the population.