Jackson, Sarah E;
Warr, William;
Brown, Jamie;
Hartmann-Boyce, Jamie;
Jebb, Susan A;
Tudor, Kate;
Shahab, Lion;
(2024)
Weight control efforts and practices and health professional advice: a cross-sectional national survey in England.
BMJ Open
, 14
(11)
, Article e086764. 10.1136/bmjopen-2024-086764.
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Abstract
Objectives: There is evidence that general practitioners (GPs) can increase the uptake of weight management programmes that enhance weight loss compared with self-directed efforts, but the rate at which they do so is unclear. This study examined the prevalence of weight control efforts and practices, the reported frequency and impact of receipt of GP advice on weight loss attempts and perceptions of the appropriateness of health professionals delivering weight loss advice. // Design: A nationally representative cross-sectional survey. // Setting: England. // Participants: 1722 adults (≥16 years) surveyed in October 2018 (mean (SD) age=47.4 (19.2), 51.1% women). // Main outcome measures: Weight control efforts and practices, whether a GP gave advice or a specific referral/prescription medication, perception of the appropriateness of GP weight loss advice. // Results: Two-thirds (64.7% (95% CI 58.1% to 71.3%)) of people with obesity reported trying to lose weight. Of people with obesity who visited their GP in the past year, 40% (95% CI 32.2% to 47.7%) recalled receiving any advice on weight loss: 30.8% (95% CI 23.5% to 38.2%) general advice and 9.2% (95% CI 4.6% to 13.7%) a referral to a weight loss service or prescription medication for weight loss. Having received weight loss advice from a GP was strongly associated with a greater likelihood of trying to lose weight (general advice: ORadj=4.49, 95% CI 2.52 to 8.00; referral/medication: ORadj=9.25, 95% CI 2.65 to 32.3). Views on whether health professionals should deliver weight loss advice were mixed, with a substantial minority (19.4% (95% CI 17.5% to 21.4%)) finding it unacceptable. People with a BMI outside of the healthy weight range (underweight/overweight/obesity), women and those from more disadvantaged social grades were less likely to find it acceptable. // Conclusions: Most people with obesity reported trying to lose weight but less than half recalled receiving advice on weight loss from their GP in the past year and few were referred to community weight-loss programmes. Those who recalled receiving GP advice on weight loss were substantially more likely to report taking action to lose weight. One in five people thought GP advice on weight loss was inappropriate. //
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Weight control efforts and practices and health professional advice: a cross-sectional national survey in England |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1136/bmjopen-2024-086764 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2024-086764 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2024. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to copy, redistribute, remix, transform and build upon this work for any purpose, provided the original work is properly cited, a link to the licence is given, and indication of whether changes were made. See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
| Keywords: | Obesity; PUBLIC HEALTH; Primary Care; Surveys and Questionnaires |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health > Behavioural Science and Health |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10198976 |
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