Physician-patient interactions regarding diet, exercise, and smoking.
OBJECTIVES: The objectives were to determine the rate of physician/patient discussions regarding diet, exercise, and smoking and to assess the effect of such discussions on behavior change. METHODS: In a telephone survey of Connecticut adults, respondents who had a routine checkup in the past year (n = 433) were asked whether their physicians had asked them about their dietary habits, exercise, or smoking, and about any efforts to modify these behaviors during the preceding year. RESULTS: Diet was addressed with 50% of the subjects, exercise with 56%, and smoking status with 77%. Respondents who were asked about their diet were more likely to have changed their fat or fiber intake in the past year than those not asked (64 vs. 48%, P = 0.002) and were somewhat more likely to have lost weight (46 vs. 37%; P = 0.061); the differences were even greater among 94 overweight subjects (64 vs. 47%; P = 0.099). No behavior change was associated with discussions of exercise or smoking. CONCLUSIONS: Physicians have the potential to impact health behaviors, especially those related to diet, through simple discussions during routine checkups, but only about half are using this opportunity.