Oral Presentation ANZOS-Breakthrough Discoveries Joint Annual Scientific Meeting 2018

Standardised baseline data collections in obesity management services in Australia: Recommendations from an expert panel (#84)

DIVYA RAMACHANDRAN 1 2 3 , Evan Atlantis 3 4 5 , Samantha Hocking 1 6 , Tania Markovic 1 7 , Timothy Gill 1 2
  1. The Boden Collaboration, Charles Perkins Centre, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  2. Prevention Research Collaboration, Sydney School of Public Health and Charles Perkins Centre, Faculty of Medicine and Health , The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  3. Capital Markets Cooperative Research Centre, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  4. School of Nursing and Midwifery, Western Sydney University, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  5. School of Medicine, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide , South Australia, Australia
  6. Central Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  7. Metabolism and Obesity Services, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Camperdown, NSW, Australia

Background: Specialist obesity management services that provide care by multi-disciplinary teams incorporating behavioural weight loss management programs, treatment with pharmacotherapy and bariatric surgery are an important, but currently limited, component of comprehensive obesity care in Australia.1  At present, there is little collaboration or co-ordination across services that differ in composition and service provision. To address this issue, we aimed to develop an expert consensus on standardising data collection in specialist obesity services.  

Methods: A panel of sixteen experts recruited from obesity management services in Australia participated in a structured consensus-driven Delphi process2 to develop an agreed set of data that should be collected from patients during their initial attendance at specialist obesity services.   The panel included surgeons, clinicians, allied health professionals (dietitian, exercise physiologist, psychologist), a bariatric nurse, and obesity researchers. We chose a 70% threshold to define attainment of consensus for data items to be included in the final baseline dataset.

Results: We produced a recommended list of core and useful data items that should comprise the initial patient dataset within obesity management services.  Consensus was achieved for recommended measures of demographic, anthropometric, weight loss history, biochemical measures, medication, medical history and comorbidity data items and included consideration of data items specific to surgical patients. Measures of diet and physical activity were considered core but the best instruments for capturing such data could not be resolved in this study.

Conclusion: We present the first expert panel consensus on recommendations for standardised baseline patient data collection in obesity management services in Australia. Standardising data collections will minimise variation in clinical assessment and facilitate data pooling for clinical audit, health service planning, as well as future research activities.

  1. 1. Atlantis E, Kormas N, Samaras K, Fahey P, Sumithran P, Glastras S, et al. Clinical Obesity Services in Public Hospitals in Australia: a position statement based on expert consensus: Expert consensus on clinical obesity services. Clinical Obesity. 2018;8(3):203-10.
  2. 2. Jünger S, Payne SA, Brine J, Radbruch L, Brearley SG. Guidance on Conducting and REporting DElphi Studies (CREDES) in palliative care: Recommendations based on a methodological systematic review. London, England: SAGE Publications; 2017. p. 684-706.