Perceived Health Concerns and Barriers to Care in Persons With Overweight and Obesity: A Patient Survey.

Objectives: To identify patient characteristics, health concerns, and barriers to care based on overweight or obesity.
Methods: A 50-question anonymous survey was administered to patients. Data were compared by body mass index (BMI).
Results: Among 3976 distributed surveys, 899 were returned and 682 were analyzed. Most respondents were women (60%), White (94%), and married/partnered (65%) and had some college education (80%). Younger and unmarried persons had higher BMI ( P  < .001). Concern for quality of life ( P  < .001) and importance of lifestyle changes ( P  = .006) increased with BMI, but confidence in making changes decreased as BMI increased ( P  < .001). Perceived good health decreased with increasing BMI ( P  < .001), whereas depression and other comorbid conditions increased. Self-esteem decreased and stigma increased with higher BMI (both P  < .001). Weight discussions with clinicians ( P  < .001) and belief that clinicians should be involved in weight management ( P  = .002) increased with BMI, yet self-perception of being judged by clinicians also increased ( P  < .001). As BMI increased, delays in seeking health care increased ( P  < .001).
Conclusions: This survey study highlights perceived health concerns and barriers to care among persons with overweight and obesity. With higher BMI, self-esteem decreased, and stigma, self-perception of poor health, perception of being judged by clinicians, and delay in seeking medical care increased.
Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared the following potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: J.O.E. serves on a scientific advisory board for Applied Aerosol Technologies and serves as a consultant to Exact Sciences and K Health, with reimbursement paid to Mayo Clinic. M.S.M. has research grants from Fresenius Kabi, Nestle, Realfood Blends, and VectivBio, and he is a consultant for NorthSea. S.L.B. serves on a scientific advisory board for CorMedix. All other authors have nothing to declare.All authors declare no support from any organization for the submitted work; no financial relationships with any organizations that might have an interest in the submitted work in the previous 3 years; and no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.