Knowledge of energy balance guidelines and associated clinical care practices: the U.S. National Survey of Energy Balance Related Care among Primary Care Physicians.

OBJECTIVE

To assess primary care physicians' (PCPs) knowledge of energy balance related guidelines and the association with sociodemographic characteristics and clinical care practices.

METHOD

As part of the 2008 U.S. nationally representative National Survey of Energy Balance Related Care among Primary Care Physicians (EB-PCP), 1776 PCPs from four specialties who treated adults (n=1060) or children and adolescents (n=716) completed surveys on sociodemographic information, knowledge of energy balance guidelines, and clinical care practices.

RESULTS

EB-PCP response rate was 64.5%. For PCPs treating children, knowledge of guidelines for healthy BMI percentile, physical activity, and fruit and vegetables intake was 36.5%, 27.0%, and 62.9%, respectively. For PCPs treating adults, knowledge of guidelines for overweight, obesity, physical activity, and fruit and vegetables intake was 81.4%, 81.3%, 70.9%, and 63.5%, respectively. Generally, younger, female physicians were more likely to exhibit correct knowledge. Knowledge of weight-related guidelines was associated with assessment of body mass index (BMI) and use of BMI-for-age growth charts.

CONCLUSION

Knowledge of energy balance guidelines among PCPs treating children is low, among PCPs treating adults it appeared high for overweight and obesity-related clinical guidelines and moderate for physical activity and diet, and was mostly unrelated to clinical practices among all PCPs.