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Effect of Obesity on Image Quality: Fifteen-year Longitudinal Study for Evaluation of Dictated Radiology Reports¹

¹ From the Department of Radiology, Division of Abdominal Imaging and Interventional Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 55 Fruit St; White 270, Boston, MA 02114 (R.N.U., D.V.S., P.F.H., P.R.M.); and Department of Radiology, Emory Healthcare, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Ga (M.K.K., S.S.S.). Received July 1, 2005; revision requested August 26; revision received October 7; final version accepted November 4. Address correspondence to R.N.U. (e-mail: ruppot{at}partners.org).

Purpose: To retrospectively assess the effect of obesity on image quality, as determined from dictated radiology reports filed between 1989 and 2003.

Materials and Methods: Institutional review board approval was obtained for this HIPAA-compliant study; informed consent was not required. Electronic records were searched for radiology reports with the phrase "limited due to body habitus" (hereafter, "habitus limited") filed between 1989 and 2003; reports were retrospectively reviewed. Habitus limited was qualified as the search phrase by auditing radiologic images and patient weights. Trends in the number of habitus-limited reports were calculated for each year, and linear regression analysis was performed. The number of habitus-limited reports was also compared between modalities within a year and within each modality across 15 years. The trend was correlated with the prevalence of obesity in Massachusetts by using the Pearson correlation coefficient.

Results: There was a significant difference (P < .001) between the weight of patients with habitus-limited reports and the weight of patients with reports that were not habitus limited. Overall, 7778 (0.15%) of 5 253 014 reports were habitus limited. Between 1989 and 2003, there was a linear increase of 0.010% per year (95% confidence interval: 0.007%, 0.013%; P < .001). There was a positive correlation between the increased number of habitus-limited reports and the increased prevalence of obese individuals in Massachusetts between 1991 and 2001. The modality most commonly associated with habitus-limited reports was abdominal ultrasonography.

Conclusion: There was a small but progressive increase in the number of habitus-limited radiology reports between 1989 and 2003.

© RSNA, 2006

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