Skip to main content
. 2011 Nov 3;343:d6500. doi: 10.1136/bmj.d6500

Table 1.

 Characteristics of participants at baseline according to intervention arm. Values are numbers (percentages) unless stated otherwise

Characteristics Weight Watchers (n=100) Slimming World (n=100) Rosemary Conley (n=100) Size Down (n=100) General practice (n=70) Pharmacy (n=70) Choice (n=100) Exercise/comparator (n=100)
Male sex 28 (28) 35 (35) 31 (31) 36 (36) 23 (33) 19 (27) 30 (30) 25 (25)
Mean (SD) age (years) 50.71 (14.56) 48.84 (14.91) 49.76 (14.51) 48.75 (15.63) 50.48 (13.79) 48.94 (15.82) 47.45 (14.35) 49.67 (13.83)
Ethnic group:
 White British/Irish 87 (87) 88 (88) 83 (83) 91 (91) 63 (90) 61 (87) 83 (83) 84 (84)
 South Asian 1 (1) 3 (3) 0 3 (3) 0 0 1 (1) 3 (3)
 Black British/Caribbean/African 5 (5) 5 (5) 12 (12) 3 (3) 4 (6) 6 (9) 10 (10) 9 (9)
  Mixed and other 7 (7) 4 (4) 5 (5) 3 (3) 3 (4) 3 (4) 6 (6) 4 (4)
Mean (SD) index of multiple deprivation 31.33 (12.6) 33.27 (15.4) 35.82 (14.9) 32.48 (14.2) 32.19 (15.7) 35.06 (15.1) 31.69 (14.2) 30.46 (13.9)
Mean (SD) starting weight (kg) 93.47 (14.15) 94.35 (13.38) 93.72 (13.68) 95.47 (17.88) 92.04 (14.75) 92.81 (13.71) 91.72 (12.49) 93.14 (15.13)
Mean (SD) starting BMI (kg/m2) 33.96 (3.9) 33.83 (3.8) 33.38 (3.5) 33.77 (3.9) 33.06 (3.5) 33.44 (3.5) 33.41 (3.4) 33.88 (4.4)
Starting BMI (kg/m2):
 <30 12 (12) 11 (11) 17 (17) 14 (14) 11 (16) 9 (13) 14 (14) 14 (14)
 30-34 51 (51) 51 (51) 49 (49) 51 (51) 39 (56) 35 (50) 54 (54) 48 (48)
 35-39 29 (29) 32 (32) 27 (27) 27 (27) 18 (26) 20 (29) 28 (28) 25 (25)
 ≥40 8 (8) 5 (5) 4 (4) 5 (5) 2 (3) 3 (4) 4 (24) 6 (6)
Median (IQR) physical activity (kcals/week) 614 (0-1447) 687 (0-1422) 386 (0-1121) 758 (0-1565) 530 (0-1733) 457 (0-1481) 571 (0-1427) 474 (0-1168)
Median (IQR) moderate/vigorous physical activity (minutes/week) 0 (0-0) 0 (0-26.25) 0 (0-0) 0 (0- 0) 0 (0- 0) 0 (0- 60) 0 (0- 0) 0 (0- 0)
Weight loss drug at baseline 3 (3) 4 (4) 3 (3) 2 (2) 1 (1) 3 (4) 3 (3) 3 (3)

BMI=body mass index; IQR=interquartile range.