Most doctors think obese people do not want to lose weight – study

Doctors think that people suffering from obesity are much less interested in weight loss than they actually are, revealed a study conducted by Australia.

According to a study presented Monday at the European Congress on Obesity, 71% of health professionals think that obese people do not want to lose weight, although only 7% of obese people have said so.

Health professionals also underestimated the number of people with obesity who had tried to lose weight in the past. Eighty-one percent of obese people reported having made a serious weight loss effort, but those who treated them felt that only 35% had done so.

The researchers interviewed more than 14,500 obese people and 2,500 doctors from 11 countries.

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About half (51%) of obese people had discussed their weight with their doctor, but this conversation took an average of six years. Sixty-eight percent of obese people said they want their doctor to start a conversation about weight management.

Professor Ian Caterson, director of the Boden Institute of Sydney University and lead author of the study, said the findings indicate that doctors have the ability to initiate conversations Older and effective on weight loss with a minimum of fear of the offense.

"We hope these results will help eliminate the barriers between obese people and their health care providers and create more positive engagement in the treatment of obesity."

Dr. Harry Nespolon, president of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, said that the focus was on training young doctors so that they could talk about obesity to patients even when they were not. It was also important that these conversations be appropriate because they were rare to present with obesity as their only health problem.

"We can not talk to a patient every time he walks through the door," he said, adding that he believed that 71% of doctors thought obese people did not want losing weight seemed like a high number.

"I have a hard time believing … [because] most people are interested in losing weight and it is a conversation that I practice several times a day. "

However, Nespolon said doctors also realized that losing weight can be difficult, and that patients should never be afraid to gain weight with their doctor.

"The culture of Australian health care is that a person can sit down and talk about anything with a GP, and that's certainly a culture that we encourage."

Professor Philippa Hay, director of the Sydney Wesley Mission Eating Disorders Center and her program for high BMI patients, was not surprised by the results of the study. She attributed the underestimation of weight loss attempts to people suffering from obesity to a misconception that people with a high BMI are not motivated.

"The elephant in the room is a stigma of weight … a view that people [with obesity] Do not try or do not do it, "she says.

On the other hand, she stated that people with a high BMI are very likely to know that they are overweight or obese.

"The higher your BMI, the more worried you are about your weight and shape, and the more likely you are to go on a diet or try to do something about it."

Professor Hay stated that the delay in seeking treatment could be attributed to public messages on weight loss, which "go against psycho-behavioral programs supervised by a doctor", which could better manage obesity and its associated psychological conditions, including depression and eating disorders.

"In the general population, the opinion is that a general practitioner is not the first person to ask for help with your weight, the message is to go in." a gym or in a weight loss program, "she said.