The overweight and obesity landscape in Spain: Data from the Spanish cohort of the multi-country IMPACT-O study

The epIdeMiology landscape PAtient Care paThways of Obesity (IMPACT-O) study was a multi-country, retrospective cohort study that utilised healthcare databases to determine the landscape/impact of overweight and obesity. Here we describe the sociodemographic, clinical and treatment characteristics of adults with a first record of overweight/obesity or obesity in Spain between 2018 and 2022.

The IQVIA longitudinal patient database in Spain was used to identify individuals with a first record of overweight/obesity, as determined by diagnosis codes and/or body mass index (BMI) measurements (overweight/obesity cohort: BMI ≥25kg/m²; obesity cohort: BMI ≥30kg/m²), in the years 2018-2022. Demographic and clinical parameters, including obesity-related complications (ORCs), as recorded by primary care providers and specialists contributing to the database, were described.

The overweight/obesity cohort included 25,016 individuals, and the obesity cohort 13,441 individuals. Most individuals with overweight/obesity (60.1%) and obesity (63.6%) presented with ≥1 ORCs. The most frequent ORCs among people with obesity were hypertension (25.3%), dyslipidaemia (19.8%), anxiety (19.0%), osteoarthritis (14.3%), low-back pain (10.9%) and depression (10.9%). The proportion of individuals receiving pharmacological therapies with an effect on weight was <1%. There were no records of lifestyle interventions or bariatric surgery in the database for this population.

This study highlights the high ORC burden at first documented diagnosis of overweight/obesity. Very few individuals with obesity in Spain receive pharmacological treatment with an effect on weight. Patient management could be improved by systematically recording all interventions in this population.