Obesity diagnosis may depend on physicians^ weight. page 1
oblivion 30th January 2012, 11:31 PM A physician's body mass index (BMI) may have an impact on how he or she cares for overweight and obese patients, according to a nationwide survey. Physicians with normal BMIs were more likely to engage their patients in weight-loss conversations compared with those who were overweight or obese (30% versus 18%, P=0.010), reported Sara Bleich, PhD, and colleagues from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Medical Institutions in Baltimore. The study, published online in Obesity, also found normal weight physicians had more confidence in their ability to provide counseling on diet (53% versus 37%, P=0.002) and exercise (56% versus 38%, P=0.001) compared with their overweight or obese colleagues. My first thought was that maybe an overweight doctor would feel a bit hypocritical when talking to a patient about losing weight. The results showed that normal-weight physicians were more likely to believe that doctors shoul...