Background:Interventions have been proposed for weight loss, but it is difficult to understand the breadth and depth of evidence, as various obese conditions may respond differently to therapy.

Objectives:To provide a visual overview of the evidence distribution for obesity therapy, as well as an accompanying narrative that will help stakeholders interpret the state of evidence to inform policy and clinical decision-making.

Methods:We searched PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane for systematic reviews reporting outcomes for interventions. The quality of each review was assessed using the Assessing the Methodological Quality of Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR) criteria. A bubble plot was used to depict the number of included articles, the effect of interventions for obesity, and strength of findings for each included systematic review.

Results:Data extraction is in progress.

Conclusions:Prior reviews have conclusions of low strength of evidence because few primary studies of large samples with rigorous methods have been conducted, leaving evidence gaps about specific intervention types for obesity. Primary studies often do not provide adequate details of intervention provided, limiting the extent to which reviews can draw conclusions about characteristics such as provider type.

Patient or healthcare consumer involvement:None.