Issue 138 Item 9 Patients Less Likely to Heed Advice of Obese Physician

Looking at a trim, fit physicians, patients are more likely to think, “This person appears to know what he’s talking about. Patients are less likely to follow the treatment recommendations of obese rather than non-obese physicians, according to the results of a new stud.

According to lead author Dr. Robert Hash from Mercer University School of Medicine in Macon, Georgia, "For some patients, the perceived health status and health behavior of the physician may be a factor in the readiness to accept advice and or counseling.”

Previous reports have found that physicians who practice a particular health behavior are more likely to counsel their patients about that health behavior. Other reports have found that physicians who try to improve their own health habits are more likely to advise their patients about general health habits.

Few studies, however, have looked at whether a physician’s own health status–obese versus non-obese–affects patients’ perceptions of his or her healthcare advice.

To investigate, Dr. Hash and colleagues surveyed 226 patients from five physicians’ offices in Georgia. Two male physicians were classified as obese, with weights of 125 kg and 102 kg. The remaining three physicians–one man and two women–were not obese.

Overall, patients said they were more receptive to treatment advice from non-obese physicians than from obese physicians, the researchers report in the January issue of Preventive Medicine.

This may be because patients looking at a trim, fit physicians are more likely to think, "This person appears to know what he’s talking about," Dr. Hash said.

Yet, for reasons unknown, the patients were equally receptive to advice from all five physicians about general weight control and fitness, the report indicates.

In general, among obese physicians, "the ‘do as I say’ mentality is possibly at work," Dr. Hash said. "But…practicing positive health behaviors is much harder than talking about them."

Prev Med 2003;36:41-44.