Journal of Obesity & Weight Loss Therapy
Open Access

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to assess the knowledge, attitudes and identify the barriers of the physicians regarding overweight and obesity management. A simple cross sectional study was conducted among 155 physicians through a standard questionnaire from 3 selected governments and 1 private hospital of Dhaka city, Bangladesh. Mean age of the 155 physicians were 31.88±5.92. Majority of them 80 (51.60%) were unable to answer the correct prevalence of overweight but also a 75(48.40%) could mark the right answer. A substantial proportion 71 (46.70%) of the physicians mentioned that they do not have much to do controlling weight problem in Bangladesh context. Majority of the physicians 148(95.5%) use BMI to measure weight problems, whereas only 13 (8.4%) practice waist circumference as a diagnostic tool. As weight management strategies most of the time 122 (85.3%) advice to modify the life style, while 93 (68.4%) occasionally refer to dietician. About 74 (47.7%) of the physicians reported lack of motivation, 73 (47.1%) mentioned short consultation time and 60 (38.7%) said that lack of national policy or management guideline are few barriers to treat weight problems. Again, perceived barriers like lack of parental support, lack of a national policy were statistically significant (p<0.05) with their occupational designation. This present study being the first one in country suggests for future large scale research to define physician’s role, need of further training and identify the new strategies to include in the health system for dealing with this growing epidemic.

Biography

Email: koly@icddrb.org