title: Coding and obesity: room to grow.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Obesity is the leading health problem in the United States. Providers often fail to document obesity in patients whose body mass index (BMI) is more than 30.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using a structured data query of the military health system electronic medical record, we determined the BMI and presence of an associated International Classification of Disease code in a cohort of more than 3 million patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fifteen percent of patients (482,628) had a BMI exceeding 30. Of those patients with a BMI more than 30,78,776 (16%) had an associated International Classification of Disease 9 code documenting obesity in their record.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Coding and documentation of obesity is inadequate. This has implications for delivery of preventive counseling and efforts to mitigate rising trends in obesity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Uniformed Services University, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA. mstephens@usuhs.mil
authors.forename: Mark B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Stephens
mesh_terms: D015992:Body Mass Index; D059019:Clinical Coding / Q000379:methods*; D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D006801:Humans; D009765:Obesity / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000517:prevention & control; D015995:Prevalence