Decision Trees
Decision trees are useful when they explain the branches.
Our trees are there to expose the reasoning, not hide it behind a score.
The four main branches
Lifestyle
Always relevant, but may not be sufficient alone when appetite biology, repeated regain or severe obesity dominate.
NHS
Becomes more relevant when BMI, comorbidities and cost/preferences make public pathways worth exploring.
Medication
Moves up when appetite, food noise, repeated regain and higher BMI make biological support worth discussing.
Surgery
Moves up mainly with higher BMI, significant weight-related disease and openness to a more intensive intervention.
What a good decision tree should never do
- Hide the thresholds.
- Pretend one answer determines treatment.
- Ignore preferences and trade-offs.
- Confuse NHS access with NICE clinical criteria.
- Present a relevance score as medical certainty.