title: Treatment of obesity: Pharmacotherapy trends in the United States from 1999 to 2010.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe the antiobesity drug-prescribing patterns of US physicians over the past decade.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data for adult patients were obtained from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey and the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey. Obesity was identified using ICD-9 codes, BMI values, and a chronic-obesity-condition variable. For patients with obesity, a logistic-regression model was estimated to determine the odds of receiving pharmacotherapy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 987 million visits by patients with obesity from 2005 to 2010, 2.0% mentioned an antiobesity drug. Additionally, there were 6.5 million visits by patients without obesity but with an antiobesity drug mention. Visits made by females (OR = 2.89; 95% CI: 2.08-4.03), by white patients (OR = 1.55; 95% CI: 1.08-2.24), by younger adults (OR = 1.71; 95% CI: 1.34-2.20), and in the South (OR = 3.39; 95% CI: 1.49-7.72) were more likely to involve an antiobesity drug prescription.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Only 1 in 50 patients with obesity received a prescription for an antiobesity medication. Moreover, in contrast to what the 1998 Guidelines suggested, physicians tended to prescribe antiobesity medications to self-paying, young, white females, many of whom lived in the South, and not all of whom had obesity.
authors.affiliation: James L. Winkle College of Pharmacy, University of Cincinnati Academic Health Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.affiliation: James L. Winkle College of Pharmacy, University of Cincinnati Academic Health Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.|Carl H. Lindner College of Business, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
authors.forename: Christina M L
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Kelton
authors.affiliation: James L. Winkle College of Pharmacy, University of Cincinnati Academic Health Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
authors.forename: Jeff J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Humana Inc., Louisville, Kentucky, USA.
authors.forename: Boyang
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bian
authors.affiliation: James L. Winkle College of Pharmacy, University of Cincinnati Academic Health Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
authors.forename: Pamela C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Heaton
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D019440:Anti-Obesity Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004358:Drug Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D019440:Anti-Obesity Agents