WHAT IS OBESITY - AN ANALYSIS OF REFERRAL LETTERS TO AN OBESITY UNIT

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the quality of referral letters concerning obe se patients from general practice and other specialities to an obesity unit. DESIGN: Retrospective analysis of referral letters in 500 conse cutive patient records. SETTING: Academic specialist obesity unit. RES ULTS: Most letters came from general practice (70%), followed by inter nal medicine/endocrinology (12%). Information on body weight was missi ng in 13% of all referrals and on height in 24%. Waist circumference w as mentioned in 1%. Relevant data substantiating possible comorbiditie s, in particular the metabolic syndrome, was missing in 92-97%. Releva nt medication was indicated in 22% of the referrals. On a 3-point, gra ded global evaluation scare of the referral quality, only 7% of all le tters were found to be 'ideal'. CONCLUSION: The low professional quali ty of these referrals may reflect the fact that physicians find the te rm 'obesity' enough to warrant the referral without further specificat ions. An alternative explanation for the inadequate referrals is the w ell documented negative attitude of physicians, who consider obesity a s sloth and as a self-inflicted condition, not necessitating further m edical details.