Thanks to the advocacy work in IMI SOPHIA – particularly with our work together with EASO on behalf of the SOPHIA project – the European Commission defined obesity as a “chronic relapsing disease, which in turn acts as a gateway to a range of other non-communicable diseases”.
Our federated database is considered a paradigm shift in data analysis, making replication and validation is significantly more efficient and increasing statistical power. Our utilization of this approach synergizes efforts both Europe-wide and globally and remains reusable and sustainable alongside the growth of the research field.
More broadly, the project hopes to change the narrative around obesity, to make it more patient-centric and equitable and to underline that it is a chronic disease, not something people choose to live with. This can change if pathogenesis, risk profiles for complications, and treatment responses are viewed within the context of obesity consisting of several subsets of disease. Our work has begun to identify discordant clusters among patient groups, which is the first step towards stratification and the classification of individuals according to obesity sub-types. With further validation, customized interventions can be developed to address associated risks and optimize therapeutic outcomes.
To date, little attention has been paid to the experience with, management of and access to obesity care for those living with type 1 diabetes. Our research has indicated that the prevalence of obesity among this group is similar to the population without type 1 diabetes and is thus rising alongside global obesity prevalence. Our qualitative research has and will continue to assess the experience of both these patients and the practitioners who administer their care.
By taking using a multi-lateral systems perspective, our ambitions rely on the following requirements:
1) Payers agree to fund treatment
2) Industry generates effective treatments
3) Clinicians are prepared to prescribe treatment
4) Patients are prepared to take treatments
By mapping out where these barriers lie and identifying potential points of entry, we will be able to focus our implementation and impact efforts more precisely. With this, we not only address the challenges to overall wellbeing and gaps in care, but we can also use this to further inform the evaluation of patient-related outcomes and ensure that treatment pathways are patient-centric and tailored to the individual’s real experience.
