Frecuencia de obesidad abdominal en médicos mexicanos de primer contacto y en sus pacientes

Objective: To estimate the frequency of abdominal obesity among a sample of Mexican patients and their primary care physicians. Methods: A convenient sample of primary care physicians were randomly selected in six large cities of Mexico. Every physician enrolled an arbitrary number of patients, aged between 18 and 80 years, excluding pregnant women. The following variables were assessed in both patients and physicians: weight, height, body mass index, waist circumference, systolic, diastolic and pulse blood pressures (SBP, DBP, PP) and smoking status. Results: The data from 7,747 patients provided by 270 physicians were recorded. Overweight was observed in 42.4% of male, and 35.2% of female patients, while 34.9% of male and 36.2% of female patients were obese. Abdominal obesity according to Mexican criteria (80 and 90 cm average, in females and males) was observed in 69% of males and 78.5% of female patients. Among physicians 39% of male and 29% of female suffered overweight, while 38% of male and 30% of female physicians were obese. Abdominal obesity was observed in 73% of male and 63% of female physicians. The proportion of smokers in patients was 42% and 37% in physicians. All blood pressures were significantly higher in physicians than in patients. Conclusions: Primary care physicians face a similar or higher cardiovascular risk than their patients.