ArticleBMJ open2012
National survey of US primary care physicians' perspectives about causes of obesity and solutions to improve care.
Article in BMJ open, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 71 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
71 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 112 citations in OpenAlex.
- Attitude and Belief of Healthcare Professionals Towards Effective Obesity Care and Perception of Barriers; An Updated Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Archives of Iranian medicine · 2023Pooled it
- Nutrition care by primary-care physicians: advancing our understanding using the COM-B framework.Public health nutrition · 2020Pooled it
- Effectiveness of behavioural weight loss interventions delivered in a primary care setting: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Family practice · 2014Pooled it
- Trial
- Students' Report of Preceptor Weight Management Counseling at Eight U.S. Medical Schools.American journal of preventive medicine · 2018Trial
- Effect of an obesity best practice alert on physician documentation and referral practices.Translational behavioral medicine · 2017Trial
- Screening, Diagnosis, Evaluation, and Staging of Obesity in Adults: Standards of Care in Overweight and Obesity-2026.BMJ open diabetes research & care · 2026Review
- The New Obesity Treatment Landscape: Challenges and Opportunities to Promote Shared Decision-Making in People With Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes.Diabetes care · 2026Review
- Article
- Developing and implementing an obesity medicine fellowship program: Experience at a U.S. academic medical center.Obesity pillars · 2025Article
- An obesity care curriculum improves residents' self-efficacy and clinical practice habits.Obesity pillars · 2025Article
- Article
- Knowledge, attitudes, and practices in obesity among trained and in-training primary care providers in an urban safety-net hospital system.Obesity pillars · 2025Article
- Utilizing near-peer teaching to expand obesity medicine training within an internal medicine residency curriculum.Journal of clinical & translational endocrinology · 2025Article
- Enhancing obesity management in primary care: the role of registered dietitian nutritionists.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2025Review
- Opportunities for General Internal Medicine to Promote Equity in Obesity Care.Journal of general internal medicine · 2025Article
- Increasing Vegetable Intake Using Monosodium Glutamate in a Randomized Controlled Trial: A Culinary Medicine Intervention.Food science & nutrition · 2025Article
- Primary Care Physicians' Attitudes and Practices in Managing Overweight and Obesity in Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia.Cureus · 2025Article
- The Surgeon Athlete? Analysis of the Nutritional Habits of Orthopaedic Surgery Residents.Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Global research & reviews · 2025Article
- Barriers and enablers to effective weight management for people living with overweight and obesity: A rapid scoping review.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2025Article
11 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo describe physician perspectives on the causes of and solutions to obesity care and identify differences in these perspectives by number of years since completion of medical school.
designNational cross-sectional online survey from 9 February to 1 March 2011.
settingUSA.
participants500 primary care physicians. MAIN MEASURES: We evaluated physician perspectives on: (1) causes of obesity, (2) competence in treating obese patients, (3) perspectives on the health professional most qualified to help obese patients lose or maintain weight and (4) solutions for improving obesity care.
resultsPrimary care physicians overwhelmingly supported additional training (such as nutrition counselling) and practice-based changes (such as having scales report body mass index) to help them improve their obesity care. They also identified nutritionists/dietitians as the most qualified providers to care for obese patients. Physicians with fewer than 20 years since completion of medical school were more likely to identify lack of information about good eating habits and lack of access to healthy food as important causes of obesity. They also reported feeling relatively more successful helping obese patients lose weight. The response rate for the survey was 25.6%.
conclusionsOur results indicate a perceived need for improved medical education related to obesity care.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.