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Effect of obesity on image quality: fifteen-year longitudinal study for evaluation of dictated radiology reports.

Uppot RN, Sahani DV, Hahn PF, Kalra MK, Saini SS, Mueller PR

Department of Radiology, Division of Abdominal Imaging and Interventional Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 55 Fruit St, Boston, MA 02114, USA. ruppot@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.

Published 25 July 2006 in Radiology, 240(2): 435-9.
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