Perceptions, attitudes and barriers to obesity management: Japanese data from the ACTION-IO study.

AIMS/INTRODUCTION The prevalence of obesity is rising in Japan and represents a considerable unmet medical need. The ACTION-IO study was designed to identify the perceptions, attitudes and barriers to obesity care among people with obesity (PwO) and health-care professionals (HCPs) in Japan. MATERIALS AND METHODS An online, cross-sectional survey was conducted in 11 countries, including Japan. RESULTS The survey was completed by 2001 PwO and 302 HCPs in Japan. Fewer PwO (58%) than HCPs (85%) perceived obesity as a chronic disease. Most PwO (81%) thought that weight loss was their own responsibility and waited a considerable time before seeking support from their HCP (mean 6 years). Most PwO (64%) had made ≥1 serious weight loss attempt in the past. In contrast, a serious attempt at losing weight was reported by HCPs for only 21% of their patients. Only 24% of PwO had weight discussions with an HCP in the past 5 years; of those, 56% expressed positive feelings following such a conversation and only 2% felt offended. Lack of patient motivation (68%) and patient disinterest (61%) were reported by HCPs as barriers to weight management conversations. A higher proportion of obesity specialists (37%) than non-specialists (22%) thought their patients were motivated to lose weight. CONCLUSIONS Our Japanese dataset reveals a need to raise awareness of the pathophysiologic basis and clinical management of obesity among PwO and HCPs. The largely positive feelings expressed by PwO following weight loss conversations should encourage HCPs to initiate earlier discussions before obesity-related complications occur.