Weight-Related Communications Between Oncology Clinicians and Women With Obesity at Early Breast Cancer Diagnosis: Findings From a Review of Electronic Health Records

Abstract

Background: The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Position Statement on Obesity and Cancer notes that the oncology care team is in a unique position to initiate weight management conversations that may help patients manage their weight in survivorship.

Methods: Qualitative and quantitative content analysis of electronic health records at a university-affiliated cancer hospital was conducted to gather documentation of weight-related communications between oncology clinicians and their patients with obesity (Body Mass Index 30 or higher) at early breast cancer diagnosis.

Results: The sample includes 237 women, mean age 56.5 (range 25–86), 37% black, and mean BMI 36 (range 30–59). Ninety-three patients (39%) had weight-related communications with at least one oncology clinician, for a total of 120 communications. Seventy-three percent of these communications were with a medical oncologist, 17% with a radiation oncologist, and 10% with a surgical oncologist. Examples of communications include referrals to weight management programs (22%), printed patient instructions about diet or diet and exercise (12%), and clinician notes describing weight-related interactions with their patients (67%).

Conclusions: This study provides preliminary but encouraging evidence of weight-related communications during a busy clinic visit with patients who were obese at breast cancer diagnosis.

Compliance with Ethical Standards

Ethical approval: All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent: Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Disclosure Statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest or disclaimers.

Funding

This study was funded by Breast Cancer Research Foundation, New York, NY; University Cancer Research Fund of the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.