Disparities in Access and Quality of Obesity Care.
Tiffani Bell Washington, Veronica R Johnson, Karla Kendrick, Awab Ali Ibrahim, Lucy Tu, Kristen Sun, Fatima Cody Stanford
Author Information
Tiffani Bell Washington: Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA. Electronic address: TiffaniBell@hsph.harvard.edu.
Veronica R Johnson: Department of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA.
Karla Kendrick: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Awab Ali Ibrahim: Pediatric Gastroenterology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, 55 Fruit Street, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
Lucy Tu: Department of Sociology, Harvard College, 33 Kirkland Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard College, 33 Kirkland Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
Kristen Sun: Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
Fatima Cody Stanford: Department of Medicine- Neuroendocrine Unit, Pediatric Endocrinology, MGH Weight Center, Nutrition Obesity Research Center at Harvard, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 50 Staniford Street, Suite 430, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
Obesity is a chronic disease and a significant public health threat predicated on complex genetic, psychological, and environmental factors. Individuals with higher body mass index are more likely to avoid health care due to weight stigma. Disparities in obesity care disproportionately impact racial and ethnic minorities. In addition to this unequal disease burden, access to obesity treatment varies significantly. Even if treatment options are theoretically productive, they may be more difficult for low-income families, and racial and ethnic minorities to implement in practice secondary to socioeconomic factors. Lastly, the outcomes of undertreatment are significant. Disparities in obesity foreshadow integral inequality in health outcomes, including disability, and premature mortality.
