Abstract
BACKGROUND: Greater than 60% of adults have overweight or obesity. Self-weighing is an effective weight loss and weight maintenance tool. However, little is known about self-weighing habits among the primary care patient population. Our objective was to examine the frequency of patient-reported self-weighing, and to evaluate the associations of self-weighing with demographic characteristics and self-monitoring behaviors.
METHODS: We conducted an analysis of survey data collected as part of the PaTH Clinical Data Research Network, which recruited a cohort of 1,021 primary care patients at 4 academic medical centers. Patients of all body mass index (BMI) categories were included.
RESULTS: Response rate of 6-month survey was 727 (71%). The mean age was 56 years, and most were female (68%), White (78%), college graduates (66%), and employed/retired (85%). The mean BMI was 30.2 kg/m 2, 80% of participants had a BMI ≧ 25 kg/m 2. Of patients with BMI ≧ 25 kg/m 2, 35% of participants self-weighed weekly and 23% daily. Participants who reported self-weighing at least weekly were more likely to be older (59 vs 54 years, p < 0.01), married (p = 0.01), college graduates (p = 0.03), White (p < 0.01), and employed vs disabled/unemployed (p < 0.01). Patients who self-weighed daily had a lower BMI (29 kg/m 2 vs 31 kg/m 2, p = 0.04). Patients who tracked exercise or food intake were more likely to self-weigh daily (p < 0.01), as were patients wanting to lose or maintain weight (p < 0.01).
CONCLUSIONS: Despite its potential for primary and secondary obesity prevention, only 35% of primary care patients with overweight or obesity engage in self-weighing weekly and less than a quarter (23%) self-weigh daily. Socioeconomic status appears to be a factor influencing regular self-weighing in this population, potentially contributing to greater health disparities in obesity rates. Patients who self-weighed daily had a lower BMI, suggesting that it may play a role in primary prevention of obesity. More work is needed to explore self-weighing among patients.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1775-1781 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Journal of general internal medicine |
| Volume | 34 |
| Issue number | 9 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Sep 15 2019 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This work was funded through a Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Award (PCORI CDRN no. 1306-04912) for development of the National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network, known as PCORnet. Dr. Bramante was funded by the Behavioral Research in Heart and Vascular Disease Program Fellowship Training Program (T32HL007180-41A1; PI: Levine, David). The views presented in this article are solely the responsibility of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), its Board of Governors or Methodology Committee, or other participants in PCORnet.
Funding Information:
This work was funded through a Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Award (PCORI CDRN no. 1306-04912) for development of the National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network, known as PCORnet. Dr. Bramante was funded by the Behavioral Research in Heart and Vascular Disease Program Fellowship Training Program (T32HL007180-41A1; PI: Levine, David). The views presented in this article are solely the responsibility of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), its Board of Governors or Methodology Committee, or other participants in PCORnet.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, Society of General Internal Medicine.
Keywords
- obesity
- primary care
- self-monitoring
- self-weighing
- weight loss
PubMed: MeSH publication types
- Journal Article
