title: Knowledge of energy balance guidelines and associated clinical care practices: the U.S. National Survey of Energy Balance Related Care among Primary Care Physicians.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess primary care physicians' (PCPs) knowledge of energy balance related guidelines and the association with sociodemographic characteristics and clinical care practices.
  
  
  METHODS
  As part of the 2008 U.S. nationally representative National Survey of Energy Balance Related Care among Primary Care Physicians (EB-PCP), 1776 PCPs from four specialties who treated adults (n=1060) or children and adolescents (n=716) completed surveys on sociodemographic information, knowledge of energy balance guidelines, and clinical care practices.
  
  
  RESULTS
  EB-PCP response rate was 64.5%. For PCPs treating children, knowledge of guidelines for healthy BMI percentile, physical activity, and fruit and vegetables intake was 36.5%, 27.0%, and 62.9%, respectively. For PCPs treating adults, knowledge of guidelines for overweight, obesity, physical activity, and fruit and vegetables intake was 81.4%, 81.3%, 70.9%, and 63.5%, respectively. Generally, younger, female physicians were more likely to exhibit correct knowledge. Knowledge of weight-related guidelines was associated with assessment of body mass index (BMI) and use of BMI-for-age growth charts.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Knowledge of energy balance guidelines among PCPs treating children is low, among PCPs treating adults it appeared high for overweight and obesity-related clinical guidelines and moderate for physical activity and diet, and was mostly unrelated to clinical practices among all PCPs.
authors.affiliation: HealthPartners and HealthPartners Research Foundation, Minneapolis, MN, USA. nico.p.pronk@healthpartners.com
authors.forename: Nicolaas P
authors.initials: NP
authors.lastname: Pronk
authors.forename: Susan M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Krebs-Smith
authors.forename: Deborah A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Galuska
authors.forename: Benmei
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Robert F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Kushner
authors.forename: Richard P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Troiano
authors.forename: Steven B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Clauser
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ballard-Barbash
authors.forename: Ashley Wilder
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Smith
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D004032:Diet / Q000523:psychology / Q000592:standards; D002149:Energy Intake; D015444:Exercise / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care; D010821:Physicians, Family / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States