Jessica Bartfield
Loyola University Health System,
Maywood, IL
Tanzania
Research Article
When More is Better: Impact of Primary Care Office Visits on Severe Obesity
Author(s): Rani N Rao and Jessica BartfieldRani N Rao and Jessica Bartfield
Background: Among patients with obesity, the subset of patients with severe obesity has been increasing at the fastest rate. Although there is literature which suggests modest effectiveness of weight loss counselling by primary care providers, many primary care clinicians face frustration with the management of obesity. Reasons for this include time constraints, poor reimbursement, and perceived inadequacy or futility of obesity treatments. Despite these obstacles, we hypothesize that primary care clinicians still positively impact weight loss for patients with severe obesity.
Methods: We performed a retrospective chart review of patients with severe obesity seen in the primary care clinics of a university health system. The body mass index (BMI) was calculated and tracked for each office visit during the study period of four years. The differ.. View More»
