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Coverage of obesity and obesity disparities on American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) examinations.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Yarlagadda, S; Townsend, MJ; Palad, CJ; Stanford, FC
Published in: Journal of the National Medical Association
October 2021

Obesity is a widespread disease which adversely impacts all organ systems and disproportionately affects African Americans and other minority groups. Physicians across medical specialties must possess current knowledge of obesity as an important, distinct disease with biological and social causes. Coverage of obesity on board certification examinations, which influence standards in medical knowledge and practice in each specialty, has not previously been examined. The member boards of the American Board of Medical Specialties offer a content outline or "blueprint" detailing material tested. We parsed the 24 available general certification exam blueprints for mentions of obesity and related keywords. We categorized blueprints into three tiers: mention of obesity (Tier 1), mention of related terminology but not obesity (Tier 2), and no mention of obesity or related terminology (Tier 3). We analyzed mentions of obesity and related terms by blueprint word count and procedural versus non-procedural specialties. Six (25.0%) of 24 board exam blueprints mentioned obesity (Tier 1), fifteen (62.5%) mentioned related terminology only (Tier 2), and three (12.5%) mentioned neither obesity nor related terminology (Tier 3). There was no significant difference in obesity-related mentions between procedural and non-procedural specialties (X2, p = .50). None of the blueprints included racial/ethnic disparities related to obesity. Word count was not significantly correlated with mentions of obesity in linear regression (p = .42). The absence of any mention of obesity on most content outlines and of racial/ethnic disparities on all content outlines indicates need for increased coverage of the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of obesity across all board examinations.

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Published In

Journal of the National Medical Association

DOI

EISSN

1943-4693

ISSN

0027-9684

Publication Date

October 2021

Volume

113

Issue

5

Start / End Page

486 / 492

Related Subject Headings

  • United States
  • Specialty Boards
  • Public Health
  • Physicians
  • Obesity
  • Medicine
  • Humans
  • Certification
  • 32 Biomedical and clinical sciences
  • 11 Medical and Health Sciences
 

Citation

APA
Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
NLM
Yarlagadda, S., Townsend, M. J., Palad, C. J., & Stanford, F. C. (2021). Coverage of obesity and obesity disparities on American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) examinations. Journal of the National Medical Association, 113(5), 486–492. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnma.2021.03.004
Yarlagadda, Siddharth, Matthew J. Townsend, Carl J. Palad, and Fatima Cody Stanford. “Coverage of obesity and obesity disparities on American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) examinations.Journal of the National Medical Association 113, no. 5 (October 2021): 486–92. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnma.2021.03.004.
Yarlagadda S, Townsend MJ, Palad CJ, Stanford FC. Coverage of obesity and obesity disparities on American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) examinations. Journal of the National Medical Association. 2021 Oct;113(5):486–92.
Yarlagadda, Siddharth, et al. “Coverage of obesity and obesity disparities on American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) examinations.Journal of the National Medical Association, vol. 113, no. 5, Oct. 2021, pp. 486–92. Epmc, doi:10.1016/j.jnma.2021.03.004.
Yarlagadda S, Townsend MJ, Palad CJ, Stanford FC. Coverage of obesity and obesity disparities on American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) examinations. Journal of the National Medical Association. 2021 Oct;113(5):486–492.
Journal cover image

Published In

Journal of the National Medical Association

DOI

EISSN

1943-4693

ISSN

0027-9684

Publication Date

October 2021

Volume

113

Issue

5

Start / End Page

486 / 492

Related Subject Headings

  • United States
  • Specialty Boards
  • Public Health
  • Physicians
  • Obesity
  • Medicine
  • Humans
  • Certification
  • 32 Biomedical and clinical sciences
  • 11 Medical and Health Sciences