In conversation with SOPHIA

About the project

In 2024, 1 in 7 people in the world were living with obesity. Adult obesity has more than doubled since 1990, and adolescent obesity has quadrupled. This can have severe consequences for individuals – obesity elevates a person’s risk of experiencing health complications like heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

The goal of the SOPHIA project was to help healthcare professionals to reliably predict who is likely to experience such complications of obesity and who will respond best to different treatments.

About the webinar

Some key results from the project that will be discussed during the webinar:

SOPHIA successfully defined five phenotypes of people with diabetes based on factors such as their biochemical profile, hypertension, inflammatory markers and more.
An algorithm was developed that can predict which individuals to prioritise for treatments. This model led to 4-15 additional correct interventions and avoids 37-135 unnecessary interventions for every 10,000 individuals tested.
The project developed a tool that can predict the weight trajectory of people after a type of weight loss surgery called bariatric surgery.
SOPHIA developed new insights into the relationship between obesity and mental health, showing how one impacts the other in a vicious cycle, and underscoring the importance of including mental health support in obesity care.
The project found that the response of people with type 2 diabetes to certain GLP-1 drugs varies dramatically and more personalised care is needed.

The webinar will discuss the impact of these results, particularly for patients, as well as outlining next steps and what the future holds.