Peer-reviewed article
Online Lifestyle Support for Adolescents Undergoing Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery: Pilot Prospective Cohort Study.
Sarah E Messiah, Jackson M Francis, Folefac D Atem, Matthew Sunil Mathew, Alicia Wheelington et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This pilot study tested TeenLyft, an online program to support adolescents aged 13-18 who have undergone weight-loss surgery. The program was feasible to run and acceptable to participants, with good retention and engagement. Participants showed expected improvements in weight, BMI, and metabolic markers after surgery, with no harmful effects observed.
Key points
- 29 adolescents enrolled, exceeding recruitment target by 45%, with 72.4% retention at 6 months
- All feasibility criteria were met: ≥80% enrollment, ≥70% retention, ≥70% data completeness, and ≥90% intervention fidelity
- Participants showed expected post-surgery reductions in weight and BMI with improvements in blood pressure and hemoglobin A1c
- No adverse cardiometabolic effects were observed during the study period
- Findings support progression to a full randomized controlled trial
Limitations
This was a small pilot study without a control group, so it cannot demonstrate that TeenLyft itself caused the observed improvements, which may reflect normal post-surgery outcomes. The study was not powered to detect clinical effectiveness or long-term sustainability of behavior change.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Metabolic and bariatric surgery (MBS) is a safe and effective treatment for adolescents with severe obesity, yet no standardized lifestyle interventions exist to support sustained behavior change after MBS. OBJECTIVE: This pilot study assessed the feasibility and acceptability of TeenLyft, an online lifestyle support program for adolescents undergoing MBS, and explored preliminary clinical and safety outcomes to inform the design of a future randomized trial. METHODS: Adolescents aged 13 to 18 years were recruited from a tertiary care MBS center and enrolled in TeenLyft. The study was not powered or designed as a randomized controlled trial but rather as a pilot to guide future randomized controlled trial development. Feasibility domains included recruitment, retention, data completeness, intervention fidelity, and engagement, with predefined progression criteria of ≥80% enrollment, ≥70% retention, ≥70% data completeness, and ≥90% fidelity. Exploratory clinical and safety measures (weight, BMI, and cardiometabolic markers) were collected descriptively to confirm that participation was not associated with harm. RESULTS: Twenty-nine adolescents (mean age 15.9 years, SD 1.1; n=22, 75.9% female; n=13, 44.8% Hispanic; mean BMI 47.8, SD 7.3 kg/m2) were enrolled, representing 145% of the recruitment target (n=20), with 72.4% retention at 6 months. All feasibility progression criteria were met. Descriptive trends showed expected post-MBS reductions in weight and BMI and improvements in blood pressure and hemoglobin A1c, with no adverse cardiometabolic effects observed. CONCLUSIONS: TeenLyft demonstrated high feasibility, acceptability, and safety as an adjunct to adolescent MBS care. Findings support progression to a fully powered randomized trial to evaluate long-term effectiveness and sustainability.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- TeenLyft, an online lifestyle support program delivered as an adjunct to bariatric surgery care
- Population
- Adolescents aged 13-18 years with severe obesity undergoing metabolic and bariatric surgery at a tertiary care center (n=29, mean age 15.9 years, 76% female, 45% Hispanic)
Key finding
Enrollment reached 145% of recruitment target (29 of 20 planned participants)