Doctors are easily averse to fat people

The patient's body weight really affects the feelings of the doctor, because they tend to think and act negatively when meeting overweight people.

A previous study demonstrated that doctors tend to discriminate against patients by body weight. But no one knows the degree of discrimination of doctors and fat people is on par with those outside the hospital.

To determine the degree of aversion to a fat person, Janice Sabin, a Washington University professor in the US, and her colleagues invited 360,000 people - including 2,284 doctors - to take a computerized test. to measure their level of aversion to fat people, Healthday reports.

The results showed that the level of doctors' aversion to fat people was similar to those who did not work as a doctor, but most of them were not aware of this emotional state. Male doctors' prejudice for fat people is larger than for female doctors. Most fat doctors show sympathy for overweight people compared to doctors with moderate or lean bodies.

'The most notable point in our study is that, like a social department, doctors also have a negative view of overweight people. Our research does not consider behavior, so we do not know if a doctor's aversion affects their relationship with the patient , 'Sabin said.

Prejudice against fat people is a big problem in countries where fat people account for a high proportion of the population. For example, nearly two-thirds of the US population is overweight or obese.

Rebecca Puhl, research director of the Rudd Center for Food and Obesity Policy at Yale University in the US, thinks that Sabin's research is of great significance. It shows that hospitals need to educate doctors about ideological discrimination against fat people.

'Negative emotions towards fat people can have a negative impact on the patient's physical and mental health. Even some patients will not want to go to the medical facility because they are afraid of the negative feeling of the doctor to them. Doctors can express prejudice in many ways - such as insulting, overweight for health problems, refusing to perform some medical procedures due to the excess body weight of the patient ' , Puhl said.