OBJECTIVES

: To describe the prevalence of obesity among patients who participated in 15 surveys between 2010 and 2017.

METHODS

: This is a descriptive study of obesity among patients who participated in 15 patient surveys between 2010 and 2017. HealthCore received permission from the New England Institutional Review Board (IRB) to merge common demographic and clinical data elements from patient surveys it had conducted from 2010 to the present for research purposes. Among these data elements were self-reported height and weight from which BMI was calculated. Obesity was categorized as: underweight (BMI<18.5); normal (18.5<BMI<25.0); overweight (25.0<BMI<30.0); obese (30.0<BMI<35.0); severely obese (35.0<BMI<40.0); morbidly obese (BMI> RESULTS

: Of 8,536 patients, 2.3% were underweight, 33.1% normal, 30.1% overweight, 18.3% obese, 8.8% severely obese and 7.3% morbidly obese. Males were more obese than females (37.2% vs 33.3%; P<0.001). African Americans were the most obese (56.8%) and Asians the least obese (12.2%); whites and Hispanics were similar (33.8% and 34.5%, respectively; P<0.001). Obesity decreased with level of education from 39.9% for patients with at most a high school education to 27.0% for those with a graduate or professional degree (P<0.001). Obesity also decreased as household income increased from 38.2% for those with household income <$50,000 to 26.5% for those with household income >$100,000 (P<0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

: The relationship between obesity and socioeconomic status differs by gender, race/ethnicity, education and household income. A better understanding of these relationships can lead to more focused policy efforts that will benefit individuals and improve their health.