ArticleApplied clinical informatics2017
The prevalence of obesity documentation in Primary Care Electronic Medical Records. Are we acknowledging the problem?
Article in Applied clinical informatics, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 35 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
35 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 56 citations in OpenAlex.
- Enablers and barriers to implementing obesity assessments in clinical practice: a rapid mixed-methods systematic review.BMJ open · 2022Pooled it
- Current state of electronic problems lists in primary care: a rapid scoping review.Family practice · 2026Article
- Screening, Diagnosis, Evaluation, and Staging of Obesity in Adults: Standards of Care in Overweight and Obesity-2026.BMJ open diabetes research & care · 2026Review
- Trends and Disparities in Clinician Diagnosis of Overweight and Obesity.Journal of general internal medicine · 2026Article
- Review
- Real-world use and effectiveness of tirzepatide among individuals without type 2 diabetes: Results from the Optum Market Clarity database.Diabetes, obesity & metabolism · 2025Observational
- Doctor-patient communication in obesity disease - the perspective of Polish primary care physicians.BMC primary care · 2025Article
- Pediatric patients diagnosed as overweight and obese have an elevated risk of dyspnea.Respiratory physiology & neurobiology · 2024Article
- Automated extraction of weight, height, and obesity in electronic medical records are highly valid.Obesity science & practice · 2024Article
- Associations between blood pressure control and clinical events suggestive of nutrition care documented in electronic health records of patients with hypertension.BMC medical informatics and decision making · 2023Article
- Body Mass Index and Associated Medical Expenditures in the US Among Privately Insured Individuals Aged 2 to 19 Years in 2018.JAMA pediatrics · 2023Article
- Relationship between Body Mass Index and Diagnosis of Overweight or Obesity in Veterans Administration Population.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Characterization of an obese population: a retrospective longitudinal study from real-world data in northern Portugal.BMC primary care · 2023Article
- Obesity and inflammation influence pharmacokinetic profiles of PEG-based nanoparticles.Journal of controlled release : official journal of the Controlled Release Society · 2023Article
- Lack of Age-Appropriate Reference Intervals Causing Potentially Missed Alerts in Clinical Reports of Dyslipidemia.The Journal of pediatrics · 2023Article
- Moving toward a standardized diagnostic statement of pituitary adenoma using an information extraction model: a real-world study based on electronic medical records.BMC medical informatics and decision making · 2022Article
- Clinical Characteristics and Factors Associated with In-Hospital Mortality in 66 755 Patients Hospitalized Due to Diabetes in Poland, January to December 2019.Medical science monitor : international medical journal of experimental and clinical research · 2022Article
- Recognition of Obesity and Perceptions of Weight Loss Management in Patients With Chronic Kidney Disease: A Retrospective Cross-Sectional Study.Canadian journal of kidney health and disease · 2022Article
- Article
- Sex/Gender Differences in Obesity Prevalence, Comorbidities, and Treatment.Current obesity reports · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAlthough obesity is a growing problem, primary care physicians often inadequately address it. The objective of this study is to examine the prevalence of obesity documentation in the patient's problem list for patients with eligible body mass indexes (BMI) as contained in the patients' electronic medical record (EMR). Additionally, we examined the prevalence of selected chronic conditions across BMI levels.
methodThis study is a retrospective study using EMR data for adult patients visiting an outpatient clinic between June 2012 and June 2015. International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, (ICD-9) codes were used to identify obesity documentation in the EMR problem list. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used.
resultsOut of 10,540, a total of 3,868 patients were included in the study. 2,003 (52%) patients met the criteria for obesity (BMI ≥ 30.0); however, only 112 (5.6%) patient records included obesity in the problem list. Moreover, in a multivariate analysis, in addition to age and gender, morbid obesity and cumulative number of comorbidities were significantly associated with obesity documentation, OR=1.6 and OR=1.3, respectively, with 95% CI [1.4, 1.9] and [1.0, 1.7], respectively. For those with obesity documentation, exercise counseling was provided more often than diet counselling.
conclusionBased on EHR documentation, obesity is under coded and generally not identified as a significant problem in primary care. Physicians are more likely to document obesity in the patient record for those with higher BMI scores who are morbidly obese. Moreover, physicians more frequently provide exercise than diet counseling for the documented obese.
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Registered trials
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