Some Doctors are Ditching the Scale, Saying Focusing on Weight Drives Misdiagnoses

In recent years, research has shown that when clinicians focus on weight, it can lead patients to avoid or delay health care, including recommended cancer screenings. Providers sometimes miss major health problems — in both people with larger bodies and those with smaller ones — when they're too laser focused on a patient's weight

In June, the American Medical Association started recommending that clinicians look beyond body mass index to understand a patient's health. The new policy says to consider factors like genetics, blood sugar levels and where there is fat on a patient's body. But a growing number of providers are going further than that: practicing what they call weight-inclusive, or weight-neutral, care. Some subscribe to a set of principles called "health at every size." Read more from NPR here.