Oral Presentation ANZOS-ASLM-ICCR 2019

Misalignment between perception, reality and actions in obesity (#93)

Kyra A Sim 1 , Ian D Caterson 1 , Assim A. Alfadda 2 , Pernille Auerbach 3 , Walmir Coutinho 4 , Ada Cuevas 5 , Dror Dicker 6 7 , Carly Hughes 8 9 , Masato Iwabu 10 , Jae-Heon Kang 11 , Rita Nawar 12 , Ricardo Reynoso 13 , Nicolai Rhee 13 , Georgia Rigas 14 , Javier Salvador 15 16 , Paolo Sbraccia 17 , Verónica Vázquez-Velázquez 18 , Jason CG. Halford 19
  1. Boden Collaboration, Charles Perkins Centre, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  2. Obesity Research Center and Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
  3. Novo Nordisk A/S , Søborg, Denmark
  4. Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, State Institute of Diabetes and Endocrinology, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  5. Departamento de Nutrición, Clínica Las Condes, Santiago, Chile
  6. Internal Medicine D, Hasharon Hospital Rabin Medical Center, Petah Tikva, Israel
  7. Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
  8. Fakenham Weight Management Service, Fakenham Medical Practice, Norfolk, United Kingdom
  9. University of East Anglia, Norfolk, United Kingdom
  10. Department of Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
  11. Department of Family Medicine, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea
  12. The Weight Care Clinic, Dubai Healthcare City, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
  13. Novo Nordisk Health Care AG, Zürich, Switzerland
  14. St George and Sutherland Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  15. Department of Endocrinology and Nutrition, Clínica Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
  16. CIBER Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Majadahonda, Spain
  17. Department of Systems Medicine, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy
  18. Clínica de Obesidad y Trastornos de la Conducta Alimentaria, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán, Ciudad de México, Mexico
  19. Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom

Background: Obesity is a chronic, relapsing disease that has an unmet medical need. The international ACTION-IO study (NCT03584191) aimed to identify perceptions, attitudes, behaviours and barriers to effective obesity care among people with obesity (PwO) and healthcare professionals (HCPs).

Methods: A survey of PwO and HCPs was conducted in 11 countries, including Australia.    

Results: The survey was completed by 14,502 PwO and 2,785 HCPs. Although most PwO (68%) and HCPs (88%) acknowledged that obesity is a chronic disease, 81% of PwO placed complete responsibility for weight loss on themselves and only 44% of HCPs considered genetics to be a barrier. Many PwO were motivated to lose weight (48%) and the top weight management goal (46% of PwO) was to reduce health risks. However, most HCPs cited lack of patient interest (71%) or motivation (68%) as a reason for not discussing weight. For PwO who had discussed weight with an HCP in the past 5 years (54%), a median of 3 (mean 6) years elapsed between the time when they started struggling with excess weight or obesity and when they first had the discussion. The majority of PwO (68%) wanted their HCP to initiate a weight loss conversation, and only 3% felt offended by such a conversation.

Conclusions: These data highlight a global need for improved education on the physiological basis and clinical management of obesity for both PwO and HCPs. HCP misperception of patient interest/motivation for weight management is a potential barrier to the initiation of timely weight management conversations.