Why People Seek Obesity Care Through Digital Rather Than In-Person Services: A Quantitative Multinational Analysis of Patients From a Large Unsubsidized Digital Obesity Provider

Abstract

Digital modalities have been demonstrated to improve access and adherence to various chronic care services by mitigating geographical, temporal, and psychological barriers to ongoing multidisciplinary consultations, which such diseases necessitate. The net utility of medication-supported digital weight-loss services (DWLSs) has been intensely debated over the past few years due to their rapid uptake against the backdrop of the obesity epidemic. However, research on these services in real-world settings is scarce. Patients of a large multinational DWLS were emailed a four-question survey, soliciting their reasons for using the service instead of face-to-face (F2F) alternatives. Responses were collected from 1,283 patients, including 481 from the United Kingdom, 428 from Germany, and 374 from Australia. Personal discomfort in discussing weight loss in F2F settings was the most common reason for subscribing to the Eucalyptus DWLS across the full cohort ( N = 557, 43.41%), followed by the modality’s flexibility ( N = 441, 34.37%), patient inability to access comprehensive obesity care through a local general practitioner (GP) ( N = 435, 33.90%), and marketing or brand awareness ( N = 358, 27.90%). Several significant differences were observed between country, gender, ethnicity, and regular GP status across each of the subscription reasons. This study contributed another important layer to the emerging literature on DWLSs by generating preliminary quantitative evidence of their benefits to obesity care access. However, the findings also indicated that a certain number of patients may be subscribing to such services simply to access weight-loss medications rather than multidisciplinary care. To derive clearer conclusions about this concern, follow-up studies should aim to analyze health coaching engagement markers across a range of service providers.