Do Doctors Care as Much About Overweight Patients?
May 18, 2001 -- Comedian Rodney Dangerfield has complained for years that he gets no respect. What about overweight patients? A doctor walks into the examining room, and there sits a seriously obese patient. Will that patient get adequate treatment -- or do cultural stereotypes affect the physician's medical judgment? Do doctors take obese patients' complaints less seriously?
A study in a recent issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine indicates that -- at least in their early years of medical school -- young doctors indeed take an obese patient's complaints seriously and provide good treatment. But they doubt the patient will comply with their advice.
"Patients should be reassured," says study author Robert S. Wigton, MD, chief of general internal medicine at the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Medicine in Omaha. "Even though medical students carry these biases, they seem to rise above them and treat patients appropriately."
In his study, Wigton included 32 third-year and 16 fourth-year medical students during their six-month rotation in general internal medicine. He also recruited four drama students from nearby University of Nebraska, each of whom posed as a non-obese patient -- and (with padding and bulky clothing) -- as an obese patient.
Each "patient" was videotaped describing various symptoms, to simulate a first-time visit to a doctor. While some patients were clearly describing a true disorder such as inflammatory bowel disease, others were obviously talking about something that didn't exist.
"This is the kind of thing doctors face all the time, whether patients are obese or not," Wigton tells WebMD. "People come in with disturbances in their bowel function and cramps. Sometimes it comes from neurotic thinking. Sometimes it is a true dysfunction in the nerves, inflammation, or a bacteria."
The verdict: The students ordered all the right tests, made the right diagnoses -- although some considered obese patients to be more neurotic. Many even ordered additional tests appropriate for obesity, like tests for diabetes, says Wigton.
"But what's a little disturbing -- they were pessimistic about the outcome," he tells WebMD. "They didn't think the person would follow through with any of their recommendations."
Do Doctors Care as Much About Overweight Patients?
A study in a recent issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine indicates that -- at least in their early years of medical school -- young doctors indeed take an obese patient's complaints seriously and provide good treatment. But they doubt the patient will comply with their advice.
"Patients should be reassured," says study author Robert S. Wigton, MD, chief of general internal medicine at the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Medicine in Omaha. "Even though medical students carry these biases, they seem to rise above them and treat patients appropriately."
In his study, Wigton included 32 third-year and 16 fourth-year medical students during their six-month rotation in general internal medicine. He also recruited four drama students from nearby University of Nebraska, each of whom posed as a non-obese patient -- and (with padding and bulky clothing) -- as an obese patient.
Each "patient" was videotaped describing various symptoms, to simulate a first-time visit to a doctor. While some patients were clearly describing a true disorder such as inflammatory bowel disease, others were obviously talking about something that didn't exist.
"This is the kind of thing doctors face all the time, whether patients are obese or not," Wigton tells WebMD. "People come in with disturbances in their bowel function and cramps. Sometimes it comes from neurotic thinking. Sometimes it is a true dysfunction in the nerves, inflammation, or a bacteria."
The verdict: The students ordered all the right tests, made the right diagnoses -- although some considered obese patients to be more neurotic. Many even ordered additional tests appropriate for obesity, like tests for diabetes, says Wigton.
"But what's a little disturbing -- they were pessimistic about the outcome," he tells WebMD. "They didn't think the person would follow through with any of their recommendations."