Health care agencies overwhelmingly underestimate efforts made by the obese to lose weight, according to a new international study.
Most agencies believe most people with obesity are not interested in losing weight – while their patients believe the opposite, according to the study, reported today to the European Congress on Obesity in Glasgow, Scotland.
Researchers found that 81% of patients reported making at least one serious effort to lose weight – while the agencies believed that just 35% of patients had done so.
Researchers at the University of Sydney, Australia, collected data from 11 developed countries, ranging from the UK to Saudi Arabia, Israel, Italy, Japan and Mexico.
They interviewed 2,800 health care providers and 14,500 people with obesity.
Researcher Professor Ian Caterson said: "As a health care community, we must address these barriers to care and initiate earlier, effective weight management conversations with people with obesity without fear of offence. People with obesity clearly want to lose weight and we should support them.”
* The conference also heard that in Scotland, UK, GP practices hold no records of weight for as many as 25% of patients. Up to 29% of people in Scotland are thought to be obese.
* A major analysis, reported to the conference, highlights the huge risks faced by people with severe obesity.
Those with a BMI of 40 to 45 faced a 12 times increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared with those of normal weight – and a 22 times increased risk of developing sleep apnoea, Danish researchers reported.
The study involved some 2.8 million people found in the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink.
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