No abstract

No abstract

Context Although commercial weight loss programs provide treatment to millions of clients, their efficacy has not been evaluated in rigorous long-term trials. Objective To compare weight loss and health benefits achieved and maintained through self-help weight loss vs with a structured commercial program.

Recently, several articles appearing in the diabetes literature have suggested that many investigators are unclear about a number of issues involving the use of areas under the curve (AUCs). This prompted us to reconsider issues in the calculation, use, meaning, and presentation of AUCs. We discuss five issues: 1) What is a curve and an area? 2) How should one graphically present a group's curve? 3) How should one calculate AUCs? 4) Should one subtract baseline values from outcome values before calculating AUCs? And 5) are AUCs the best way to combine multiple readings into a single index?