Primary Care Physicians’ Attitudes about Obesity and Its Treatment

Abstract

Objective: This study was designed to assess physicians’ attitudes toward obese patients and the causes and treatment of obesity. Research Methods and Procedures: A questionnaire assessed attitudes in 2 geographically representative national random samples of 5000 primary care physicians. In one sample (N = 2500), obesity was defined as a BMI of 30 to 40 kg/m2, and in the other (N = 2500), obesity was defined as a BMI > 40. Results: Six hundred twenty physicians responded. They rated physical inactivity as significantly more important than any other cause of obesity (p < 0.0009). Two other behavioral factors—overeating and a high‐fat diet—received the next highest mean ratings. More than 50% of physicians viewed obese patients as awkward, unattractive, ugly, and noncompliant. The treatment of obesity was rated as significantly less effective (p < 0.001) than therapies for 9 of 10 chronic conditions. Most respondents (75%), however, agreed with the consensus recommendations that a 10% reduction in weight is sufficient to improve obesity‐related health complications and viewed a 14% weight loss (i.e., 78 ± 5 kg from an initial weight of 91 kg) as an acceptable treatment outcome. More than one‐half (54%) would spend more time working on weight management issues if their time was reimbursed appropriately. Discussion: Primary care physicians view obesity as largely a behavioral problem and share our broader society's negative stereotypes about the personal attributes of obese persons. Practitioners are realistic about treatment outcomes but view obesity treatment as less effective than treatment of most other chronic conditions.

Beliefs about the causes and solutions to obesity: A comparison of GPs and lay people

“…The results showed that in general the GPs were ambivalent about the majority of solutions for obesity including medication, surgery, counselling, policy changes and seeing the GP. This supports previous research which indicates that doctors have little faith in the management approaches available for obesity and are often reluctant to refer patients for further treatment (11,12,14). The majority of GPs however, did endorse the use of support groups which is in line with previous evidence indicating that GPs do not believe that obesity falls within their professional domain (12).…”

“…GPs have reservations about using anti-obesity drugs (11,12) and surveys show that only 3% of GPs would refer obese patients for behaviour therapy (13) and that only 23% of primary care physicians would refer morbidly obese patients, who met the criteria for surgery, to a surgeon specialising in surgery for obesity (14).…”

Study of the knowledge, attitudes and practices of physicians towards obesity management in primary health care in Bahrain

“…This may be due to physicians being less aware of its potential benefits, the inaccessibility to qualified surgeons or fear of possible risks (30) .…”

Comfort of General Internists and General Pediatricians in Providing Care for Young Adults with Chronic Illnesses of Childhood

“…[10][11][12][13][14][15] We utilized a conceptual framework that centered on how comfortable physicians felt treating a specific disease (hereafter referred to as 'physician treatment comfort'). Treatment comfort is a necessary component of readiness and willingness to provide care, as previous studies have shown that provider treatment comfort alters physician treatment and referral patterns.…”