Tiivistelmä

Uudessa Käypä hoito -suosituksessa huomioidaan digitaalisten välineiden hyödyntäminen lihavuuden hoidossa. Suomessa lihavuuden digihoitoa on tutkittu sekä itsenäisenä hoitokeinona että yhdistettynä lihavuuden perinteisiin hoitokeinoihin. Yhdistelmähoidolla on saatu parhaimmat tulokset Suomessa ja monissa muissa maissa. Jotta digihoitoa voidaan tarjota laajemmin, tarvitaan tietoa, millainen palvelu sopii kullekin kohderyhmälle, miten käyttäjät saadaan sitoutumaan hoitoon ja mitkä digitaaliset komponentit toimivat lihavuuden hoidossa.

Summary

There are approximately 2.5 million overweight adults in Finland and about a million of them are obese. Effective treatment options are limited due to limited health care resources, costs and sometimes geographical barriers. In the recent Finnish Current Care Guideline on obesity, digital devices were considered to be a potential treatment method and an option for overcoming the barriers to therapy.

The published literature on digital obesity treatment is difficult to evaluate due to differences in sample sizes, duration of interventions and care of control groups. However, digital obesity treatments seem to be more effective compared to controls in some instances. Especially the combination of face-to-face and digital treatment provides better weight loss results compared to traditional care. Self-monitoring, tailored content and feedback are digital features associated with successful weight loss results.

In studies performed in Finland, the most effective methods combine digital and traditional treatments. 
This is in line with the results of international studies. There are also some promising results with commercial mobile apps for weight loss. However, due to small sample sizes, limited intervention durations and lack of follow-up periods, evidence is scarce. Further research is needed to find a suitable digital service for each target population and determine the digital components most effective in obesity treatment.