Just one in 10 adults with overweight or obesity are likely to achieve clinically meaningful weight loss in a year, a US study shows.

But the statistics improve over a longer period, when a third of those with overweight lose 5% of their body weight during follow-up of three to 14 years, the authors report.

Researchers assessed the annual probability of achieving clinically meaningful weight loss, using data from electronic medical records for 18 million US adults with at least three years of BMI information from 2009 to 2022.

The researchers found that 72% of patients had overweight or obesity at the initial visit, and among these patients, the annual probability of weight loss of 5% or more was low (one in 10), the JAMA Network Open study shows.