title: Characterization of obesity rates for dermatologic ambulatory office visits to United States physicians.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Obesity continues to increase in the United States (US) and elsewhere, with a number of published dermatologic associations. The purpose of this study was to characterize obesity among US office visits for dermatologic diseases.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data from the 2005 to 2011 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) and National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS) were searched for the most common dermatologic diagnoses for which body mass index (BMI) could be classified.
  
  
  RESULTS
  For all dermatologic patient visits, 10% were underweight, 36.5% were normal weight, 23.8% were overweight and 29.7% were obese. Increasing age predicted the yearly increased likelihood of obesity (OR 1.02; 95% CI 1.01, 1.02; p < 0.0001). Logistic regression controlling for age, sex, race and dataset found that in addition to age, NHAMCS dermatologic diagnosis patients were more likely to be obese than NAMCS patients (OR 1.22; 95% CI 1.03, 1.45; p = 0.02). Specific diseases were found to have the highest obesity rates, including psoriasis, hidradenitis suppurativa and acanthosis nigricans.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A large proportion of dermatologic diagnosis patients are obese, and awareness could lead to interventions that may improve their disease and decrease risks of comorbidities.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Surgery , University of Kentucky College of Medicine , Lexington , KY , USA.
authors.forename: Alan B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Fleischer
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000553:Ambulatory Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015992:Body Mass Index; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D009819:Office Visits / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012871:Skin Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: Dermatology; body mass index; epidemiology; health services research; overweight; skin disease