Disparity in Physician Perception of Patients' Adherence to Medications by Obesity Status
Open accessAbstract
Physician perception of medication adherence may alter prescribing patterns. Perception of patients has been linked to readily observable factors, such as race and age. Obesity shares a similar stigma to these factors in society. We hypothesized that physicians would perceive patients with a higher BMI as nonadherent to medication. Data were collected from the baseline visit of a randomized clinical trial of patient–physician communication (240 patients and 40 physicians). Physician perception of patient medication adherence was measured on a Likert scale and dichotomized as fully adherent or not fully adherent. BMI was the predictor of interest. We performed Poisson regression analyses with robust variance estimates, adjusting for clustering of patients within physicians, to examine the association between BMI and physician perception of medication adherence. The mean (s.d.) BMI was 32.6 (7.7) kg/m 2 . Forty‐five percent of patients were perceived as nonadherent to medications by their physicians. Higher BMI was significantly and negatively associated with being perceived as adherent to medication (prevalence ratio (PrR) 0.76, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.64–0.90; P = 0.002; per 10 kg/m 2 increase in BMI). BMI remained significantly and negatively associated with physician perception of medication adherence after adjustment for patient and physician characteristics (PrR 0.80, 95% CI: 0.66–0.96; P = 0.020). In this study, patients with higher BMI were less likely to be perceived as adherent to medications by their providers. Physician perception of medication adherence has been shown to affect prescribing patterns in other studies. More work is needed to understand how this perception may affect the care of patients with obesity.
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- Authors
- Huizinga, M. M., Bleich, S. N., Beach, M. C., Clark, J. M., & Cooper, L. A.
- Affiliations
- Johns Hopkins University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Huizinga, Mary Margaret
- Venue
- Obesity
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2010-10
- Volume
- 18
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- 1932-1937
- ISSN
- 1930-7381 (ISSN-L)
- 1930-739X
- PMC
- PMC3149807
- OpenAlex
- W2080402899
- Cited by
- 107
- References
- 39
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 5
- FWCI
- 13.26
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Obesity (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (R01HL069403, K24HL083113)
- National Center for Research Resources (K12RR023266)
- National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (L60 MD000303)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Pharmacy › Obesity and Health Practices
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Family Practice › Medication Adherence and Compliance
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Patient-Provider Communication in Healthcare
- Keywords
- physician perceptions, medication adherence, body mass index, physician-patient communication, prescribing patterns, stigma, patient-provider relationship
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aged, Antihypertensive Agents, Attitude of Health Personnel, Female, Humans, Hypertension, Male, Middle Aged, Obesity, Physicians, Prejudice, Surveys and Questionnaires, Body Mass Index, Multivariate Analysis, Medication Adherence
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