U.S. Preventative Services Task Force releases obesity screening recommendations
Patient Safety Monitor Insider
July 3, 2012
The U.S. Preventative Services Task Force released new recommendations last week that advise physicians to screen all adult patients for obesity during office visits and refer patients to comprehensive weight-management programs or offer such programs to patients. According to one member of the task force, physicians often fail to calculate patients’ body mass indexes or tell patients whether they are at a normal weight, overweight, or obese.
The task force found that comprehensive weight-loss programs, often referred by a physician, can lead to 6% weight loss in obese patients, which may reduce risk factors for heart disease. Though previous guidelines from the task force recommended that physicians screen for obesity, the new recommendations offer specific information on the most effective weight-control interventions. The task force’s recommendations are published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
