Workday sitting time and marital status: Novel pretreatment predictors of weight loss in overweight and obese men

Morgan, Philip J., Hollis, Jenna L., Young, Myles D., Collins, Clare E. and Teixeira, Pedro J. (2018) Workday sitting time and marital status: Novel pretreatment predictors of weight loss in overweight and obese men. American Journal of Men's Health, 12 (5), 1431-1438. (doi:10.1177/1557988316654866).

Abstract

The evidence base for weight loss programs in men is limited. Gaining a greater understanding of which personal characteristics and pretreatment behaviors predict weight loss and attrition in male-only studies would be useful to inform the development of future interventions for men. In December 2010, 159 overweight/obese men (mean age = 47.5 years; body mass index = 32.7 kg/m²) from the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia, participated in a randomized controlled trial testing the effectiveness of two versions of a 3-month gender-targeted weight loss program. In the current analyses, social–cognitive, behavioral, and demographic pretreatment characteristics were examined to determine if they predicted weight loss and attrition in the participants over 6 months. Generalized linear mixed models (intention-to-treat) revealed weight change was associated with education level (p =.02), marital status (p =.03), fat mass (p =.045), sitting time on nonwork (p =.046), and workdays (p =.03). Workday sitting time and marital status accounted for 6.5% (p =.01) of the variance in the final model. Attrition was associated with level of education (p =.01) and body fat percentage (p =.01), accounting for 9.5% (p =.002) of the variance in the final model. This study suggests men who spend a lot of time sitting at work, especially those who are not married, may require additional support to experience success in self-administered weight loss programs targeting males. Additional high-quality evidence is needed to improve the understanding which pretreatment behaviors and characteristics predict weight loss and attrition in men.

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