Many People Who Are Overweight or Obese Have Never Been Told by Their Doctors to Lose Weight

NEW YORK, Feb. 22, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- A new Harris Poll suggests that many doctors are doing little or nothing to help their overweight patients to lose weight.  Using classifications defined by the World Health Organization, 19% of those who are morbidly obese (with a Body Mass Index, or BMI, of 35.0 or greater), 46% of those who are obese (BMI of between 30.0 and 34.99) and 72% who are overweight but not obese (BMI of between 25.0 and 29.99) say that their doctors have never told them to lose weight.

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Many of these people clearly recognize that they should lose weight and have made a New Year's resolution to do so, including 62% of the morbidly obese, 59% of the obese and 49% of the overweight.

Many of those who are overweight have participated at some time in their lives in programs to try to manage their weight.  In most cases these were their own personal programs rather than formal programs run by weight loss companies such as Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig, or programs by their employers or insurance companies. However it is notable that 19% of the morbidly obese, 27% of the obese and 31% of the overweight have never participated in any weight management program, even one of their own.

These are some of the results of The Harris Poll of 2,566 adults surveyed online between January 17 and 24, 2011 by Harris Interactive.

Some other interesting findings in this survey include:

• Fully 44% of all adults say that they made a New Year's resolution to lose weight, including 47% of women and 40% of men;
• One in five adults (19%) report that their weight has caused them health problems, including 64% of the morbidly obese and 23% of the obese; and,
• A third of all adults (32%) have been told by their doctors that they should lose weight.  However, as noted above many of those who are overweight (and even 19% who are morbidly obese) have never been told that they should do so.

So What?

Obesity and the need to greatly reduce it has become a front page story. First Lady Michelle Obama has made childhood obesity her cause. A new study by the Society of Actuaries calculates that the total cost of overweight and obesity in the United States is about $270 billion per year.  And a paper published recently in the medical journal The Lancet claims that one in every ten adults on the planet are now obese.  Furthermore, it is predicted that this obesity epidemic will trigger a huge increase in many diseases from diabetes and arthritis to several types of cancer, heart disease and depression.

This survey suggests that we are doing a reasonably good job of warning people of the need to lose weight.  However, it also points up the need to get doctors much more involved in weight loss, and to greatly increase participation in weight management programs.

Methodology

This Harris Poll was conducted online within the United States between January 17 to 24, 2011 among 2,566 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents' propensity to be online.

All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids the words "margin of error" as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal.

Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in Harris Interactive surveys. The data have been weighted to reflect the composition of the adult population. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to participate in the Harris Interactive panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.

The results of this Harris Poll may not be used in advertising, marketing or promotion without the prior written permission of Harris Interactive.

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Q905, 910, 915, 920

The Harris Poll® #23, February 22, 2011

By Humphrey Taylor, Chairman, The Harris Poll

About Harris Interactive

Harris Interactive is one of the world's leading custom market research firms, leveraging research, technology, and business acumen to transform relevant insight into actionable foresight. Known widely for the Harris Poll and for pioneering innovative research methodologies, Harris offers expertise in a wide range of industries including healthcare, technology, public affairs, energy, telecommunications, financial services, insurance, media, retail, restaurant, and consumer package goods. Serving clients in over 215 countries and territories through our North American, European, and Asian offices and a network of independent market research firms, Harris specializes in delivering research solutions that help us – and our clients – stay ahead of what's next. For more information, please visit www.harrisinteractive.com.

SOURCE Harris Interactive