24 Jul Physicians During Residency: Study of Overweight Status

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Maya Leventer-Roberts, MD, MPH
Fellow Trainee
Department of Preventive Medicine
Mount Sinai School of Medicine

MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?

Dr. Leventer-Roberts: Overweight status among medical and surgical residents is more likely by increasing PGY of training. Overweight residents are also unlikely to acknowledge their overweight status. These changes can differ significantly from matched controls and may affect long-term health.

MedicalResearch.com: What should clinicians and patients take away from your report?

Dr. Leventer-Roberts: Medical and surgical residents should be screened given their risk of increased BMI. Graduate medical education should prioritize intervening to improve the short-term health measures and long-term health outcomes of trainees.

MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?

Dr. Leventer-Roberts: We recommend including health risk assessments and weight-gain prevention interventions as part of resident programing.

We also support further research to identify high- risk sub-populations among medical and surgical residents.

Citation:

Maya Leventer-Roberts, Mark R. Zonfrillo, Sunkyung Yu, James D. Dziura, and David M. Spiro (2013) Overweight Physicians During Residency: A Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Study. Journal of Graduate Medical Education In-Press.

Last Updated on July 24, 2013 by Marie Benz MD FAAD