Person-first language in diabetes and obesity scientific publications

We aimed to quantify the use of person-first language (PFL) among scholarly articles focusing on diabetes or obesity.

PFL and condition-first language (CFL) terms for diabetes and obesity (e.g. diabetic, obese) were identified from existing guidelines and a review of the literature. Exact phrase literature searches were conducted between 2011 and 2020 and results were categorised as PFL, CFL or both.

Among diabetes articles, 43% used PFL, 40% used CFL and 17% contained both. Among obesity articles, 0.5% used PFL, 99% used CFL and 0.2% used both. The use of PFL increased by 3% per year for diabetes articles, compared to 117% for obesity articles. The rate of adoption of PFL in diabetes articles was unchanged in 2018-2020 compared to the 3 years prior.

While the use of person-first language in diabetes articles had increased over the review period, its rate of adoption has started to slow. Conversely, the use of PFL in obesity articles is nascent and increasing.