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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 government hospitals and 1 private hospital of Dhaka city, Bangladesh. Mean age of the 155 physicians was 31.88�±5.92. Majority of them, 80 (51.60%) were unable to answer the correct prevalence of overweight but 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 with controlling weight problem in Bangladesh. 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 them 122 (85.3%) took advice to modify the life style, while 93 (68.4%) occasionally were referred 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 physicianâ��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