Table 1.
Patient and physician characteristics for total sample and sample of patients that physicians reported a discussion of weight
| Patients | Total (N = 461); M (SD) or % (N) |
| Baseline weight (kg) | 91.7 (21.1) |
| Obese (BMI ≥ 30) | 54% (248) |
| Race | |
| White/Asian | 65% (300) |
| African American | 35% (161) |
| Male | 34% (158) |
| Age | 59.8 (13.9) |
| More than high school education (missing = 1, 1)a | 67% (306) |
| Economic security: pay bills easily (missing = 13, 7) | 86% (387) |
| Medical history | |
| Diabetes | 31% (142) |
| Hypertension (missing = 1, 0) | 69% (316) |
| Hyperlipidaemia (missing = 1, 1) | 56% (257) |
| Arthritis | 47% (215) |
| Very motivated to lose weight versus somewhat to not at allb | 52% (241) |
| Very confident can lose weight versus somewhat to not at all confident (missing = 1, 0)c | 36% (165) |
| Very comfortable discussing weight with MD versus somewhat to not at all (missing = 1, 0)d | 76% (350) |
| Tried to lose weight in past month | 47% (217) |
| Visit factors | |
| Total patient-medical personnel in room time (minutes) | 25.4 (10.3) |
| Total time spent discussing weight (minutes) (missing = 15, 0) | 3.3 (3.3) |
| Who initiated the weight discussion | |
| Physician | 35% (163) |
| Patient | 55% (254) |
| Weight not discussed | 10% (44) |
| Type of encounter (missing = 3, 2) | |
| Preventive | 36% (163) |
| Chronic care | 64% (295) |
| Explicit weight discussion (missing = 15, 0) | 64% (286) |
| Physicianse | N = 40 |
| Race | |
| White/Asian/Pacific Islander | 85% (34) |
| Male | 40% (16) |
| Years since medical school graduation | 22.1 (8.0) |
| Specialty | |
| Family physician | 46% (19) |
| Internist | 54% (21) |
| Prior training in behavioural counselling | 38% (15) |
| Self-efficacy to address weightc | 4.0 (0.7) |
| Comfort discussing weightd | 4.4 (0.9) |
| Barriers to discussing weight with patientsf | 2.5 (0.8) |
| Concerns about reimbursementg | 3.0 (1.6) |
Note: Forty primary care physicians and 461 of their overweight or obese patient visits were audio recorded between December 2006 and June 2008 in Durham and Oxford, NC.
Missing data at baseline (total sample and counselled sample).
Motivation to lose weight/address weight (1 = not at all to 7 = very much).
Self-efficacy to lose weight/address weight (1 = not at all confident to 5 = very confident).
Comfort discussing weight (1 = not at all comfortable to 5 = very comfortable).
Same number of physicians in discussed weight group; all physicians discussed weight with at least one patient.
Barriers (1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree).
Concerns about reimbursement (1 = not very concerned to 5 = very concerned).