Higher BMI associated with shorter visits in male oncology patients: An exploratory analysis.
Jon C Tilburt, Thomas O Byrne, Megan E Branda and 1 others
PMID 31331706WHAT IT FOUND
In cancer visits, BMI was not linked to visit length, patient-centeredness, positive affect or satisfaction after accounting for other patient and visit factors.
A possible shorter-visit signal in men did not remain after checking all outcomes.
Key findings
01After accounting for patient sex and visit characteristics, BMI was not significantly associated with visit length, patient-centeredness, positive global affect or satisfaction.
02Higher BMI was associated with shorter visit length and lower negative global affect for distance/depression in men, but this did not reach significance after correction for multiple comparisons.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
This was an exploratory cross-sectional analysis of one recorded visit, so it cannot show that BMI caused shorter visits or different communication. The findings come from one academic cancer center whose patient population was predominantly white, so they may not apply to other settings. Clinicians could veto patient recruitment, which may limit the patients represented. Patient communication ratings were very high, with 302 of 327 cases scoring 100 out of 100, leaving little room to detect differences. Seven outcomes were tested, and the sex-specific BMI signal did not reach significance after correction.
Declared interests
The supplied text tags the study as NIH extramural research support. It does not report author conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that clinicians spend less time with obese male cancer patients. The adjusted main result was null, and the sex-specific BMI-visit-length association did not reach significance after correction for seven outcomes.