Do Docs Treat Obese Patients Fairly?
By: Charlotte Ames
Updated: April 6, 2010
Surveys of doctors and other health care professionals have shown a certain bias against overweight and obese patients. Some of these patients say they've felt those negative reactions, but does it affect the care they receive? A new study shows when it comes to several common outpatient medical procedures, overweight and obese patients receive just as good, or slightly better care than those who are normal weight.
Dr. Virginia Chang from the University of Pennsylvania and co-authors reviewed several common patient procedures including cancer screenings, which were performed at V.A. Facilities and also to Medicare beneficiaries.
Dr. Chang said, “we did not find any evidence across any of these measures that obese or overweight patients are receiving lower quality of care. To the contrary we found that these groups often receive slightly better care on several of our measures.”
In particular obese patients were more likely to have their blood sugarand cholesterol levels checked in a timely fashion, than people of normal weight.
Dr. Chang said study results suggest that physicians might be more aggressive in treating risk factors such as diabetes and high cholesterol in obese patients. That may help explain why the risk of death associated with obesity is not as high as it used to be.
The study is reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Dr. Virginia Chang from the University of Pennsylvania and co-authors reviewed several common patient procedures including cancer screenings, which were performed at V.A. Facilities and also to Medicare beneficiaries.
Dr. Chang said, “we did not find any evidence across any of these measures that obese or overweight patients are receiving lower quality of care. To the contrary we found that these groups often receive slightly better care on several of our measures.”
In particular obese patients were more likely to have their blood sugarand cholesterol levels checked in a timely fashion, than people of normal weight.
Dr. Chang said study results suggest that physicians might be more aggressive in treating risk factors such as diabetes and high cholesterol in obese patients. That may help explain why the risk of death associated with obesity is not as high as it used to be.
The study is reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
