Who are you calling chubby? Insensitive labels irk overweight patients

Phoebe Southworth

OBESE people most strongly object to being called “chubby” by their doctor, a survey has revealed.

Patients resent being labelled “extralarge” or “plus-size”, with the terms “chubby”, “fat” and “super obese” among the adjectives provoking the most negative response.

Instead, they prefer the use of terms such as unhealthy weight, overweight and body mass index, according to the online survey of nearly 3,000 adults in the UK, which was presented at the European and International Congress on Obesity this week.

Its findings led scientists to ask health professionals to “make conscious efforts” to use their patients’ preferred terminology.

Dr Stuart William Flint from the University

of Leeds, who led the research, said: “Our study demonstrates the importance of the language used by healthcare professionals, and that using terminology that is less preferred may provoke negative emotions, including sadness and anger, among adults living with obesity, and parents of children living with obesity.

“With around two thirds of the UK population estimated to be living with overweight or obesity, it is vital that healthcare professionals consider and make conscious efforts to use preferred terminology.

“This may mean asking people to provide their preferred weight-related terminology within consultations where it is necessary to discuss weight.”

The researchers asked respondents to give their view on 22 terms related to body weight – ranking them on a scale description of offensiveness and providing a of their response to them.

The terms “chubby”, “fat” and “super obese” provoked feelings of disgust, contempt and anger. The most commonly reported emotion was sadness.

There is “ongoing uncertainty by healthcare professionals around the most appropriate terms to use”, according to the study.