Disclosures: Melanie N. Wilson, MD: No financial relationships or conflicts of interest

Objective: To identify how often clinicians are discussing weight reduction with their patients who are morbidly obese and have known knee osteoarthritis.

Design: Retrospective, cross-sectional study Setting : A Single, Outpatient Private Practice Clinic Participants : 100 subjects with documented knee osteoarthritis and who were morbidly obese (a BMI of 40 or greater).

Interventions: We reviewed charts of all morbidly obese patients within one private practice group between January 1, 2018 and December 31, 2019, who had documented knee osteoarthritis. We analyzed whether or not physicians were documenting obesity as well as documenting discussions about weight reduction.

Main Outcome Measures: Number of office visits in which obesity was either documented and weight reduction was discussed, obesity was documented and weight reduction not discussed, obesity not documented but weight reduction was discussed, and obesity not documented and weight reduction not discussed.

Results: Out of 100 office visits, physicians did not discuss weight loss with their patients 68 times. There were 12 visits in which obesity was documented but weight reduction was not discussed and 56 visits in which obesity was not documented and weight reduction was not discussed. Obesity was documented and weight reduction discussed in 25 visits, and obesity was not documented, but weight reduction was discussed in 7 visits. Conclusions: Although weight reduction is a key therapeutic intervention for morbidly obese patients with knee osteoarthritis, physicians are not having this important discussion with their patients. As physiatrists, we must begin identifying the barriers (such as patients’ ability to access their charts, or limited insurance coverage for weight loss programs) that are impacting our ability to counsel patient on weight management.

Level of Evidence: Level II

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PM&R Meeting Abstracts - https://pmrjabstracts.org/abstract/obesity-associated-osteoarthritis-and-clinician-counseling/