Watson Katharine M
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Indiana University School of Public Health, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA.
Animals (Basel). 2018 Oct 16;8(10):179. doi: 10.3390/ani8100179.
A recent opinion paper by Kipperman and German (2018) discussed the increasing prevalence of pet obesity, the risk factors contributing to this increase, and the role of veterinarians in helping manage pet obesity. They described the problem as a One Health problem as it has been previously characterized. Kipperman and German also reported a sample of medical records from their referring veterinarians wherein a surprisingly small number of veterinarians recorded information about pets' body weight or discussions with owners about pet obesity. From their sample, they concluded that general practice veterinarians are not meeting their professional and ethical obligations to recognize and address pet obesity. This letter discusses reasons why veterinarians may not be adequately addressing the pet obesity problem. A similar situation exists in human medicine. Numerous studies in the human field have revealed some of the reasons many physicians do not address obesity with their patients. As it is likely that veterinarians have similar reasons for avoiding the obesity issue, obstacles identified by physicians in encountering overweight obesity are reviewed in this letter.
基珀曼和格尔曼（2018年）最近发表的一篇观点论文讨论了宠物肥胖症患病率的不断上升、导致这种上升的风险因素以及兽医在帮助管理宠物肥胖症方面的作用。他们将这个问题描述为一个如先前所述的“同一健康”问题。基珀曼和格尔曼还报告了他们转诊兽医的病历样本，其中记录宠物体重信息或与主人讨论宠物肥胖问题的兽医数量少得惊人。从他们的样本中，他们得出结论，普通执业兽医没有履行其识别和解决宠物肥胖问题的专业和道德义务。这封信讨论了兽医可能没有充分解决宠物肥胖问题的原因。人类医学中也存在类似情况。人类领域的大量研究揭示了许多医生不与患者讨论肥胖问题的一些原因。由于兽医可能也有类似的回避肥胖问题的原因，因此本信将回顾医生在面对超重肥胖问题时所发现的障碍。
