ArticleAmerican journal of public health2014
Systems science and obesity policy: a novel framework for analyzing and rethinking population-level planning.
Article in American journal of public health, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 87 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
87 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Place-based approaches to improve the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people: a rapid realist review.Systematic reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Strengthening complex systems for chronic disease prevention: a systematic review.BMC public health · 2019Pooled it
- Systems science and systems thinking for public health: a systematic review of the field.BMJ open · 2015Pooled it
- Disrupting antimicrobial resistance in food systems from a One Health perspective: a complex systems analysis in Canada, Senegal and the Netherlands.BMC global and public health · 2026Article
- Addressing the commercial determinants of unhealthy beverage exposure: a systems thinking approach.Globalization and health · 2026Article
- Diagrams-to-Dynamics (D2D): Exploring causal loop diagram leverage points under uncertainty.BMC medicine · 2026Article
- Gender-related perceptions among healthcare providers and mothers in a pregnancy and early childhood obesity prevention intervention in Shanghai, China.International journal for equity in health · 2026Article
- Using systems archetypes to understand system behaviour and identify leverage points for change in local obesity prevention in The Netherlands.Health promotion international · 2026Article
- Co-design of a systems-wide approach (CONNECTS-Food) to promote adoption of whole-school approaches to food.Public health nutrition · 2025Article
- Applying system dynamics methods for local obesity prevention: results from a group model building study in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.Health research policy and systems · 2025Article
- Integrated methods for public health action tracking (IMPAcT): to understand and evaluate systems change in a public health context.Health research policy and systems · 2025Article
- Towards a collaborative interdisciplinary systems approach to urban food system transformation: a case study from the Mandala research consortium.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Structures and systems that promote nutrition security and climate adaptation in Puerto Rico: results from community-based system dynamics.Public health nutrition · 2025Article
- Systems approaches in public health: beyond mapping the causes.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2025Review
- Applying a participatory system dynamics approach to childhood overweight and obesity in the local context: reflections from the LIKE project.Health research policy and systems · 2025Article
- Monitoring and adaptation of a system dynamics approach to prevent childhood overweight and obesity: findings from the LIKE programme.Health research policy and systems · 2025Article
- Exploring learning communities' actions and perceived impact on healthy weight approaches across Dutch municipalities.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Involving national stakeholders in a systems approach to map drivers of childhood obesity and actions to prevent childhood obesity in Denmark: the Generation Healthy Kids Study.Health research policy and systems · 2025Article
- Article
- Understanding the dynamics driving obesity in socioeconomically deprived urban neighbourhoods: an expert-based systems map.BMC medicine · 2025Article
27 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesWe demonstrate the use of a systems-based framework to assess solutions to complex health problems such as obesity.
methodsWe coded 12 documents published between 2004 and 2013 aimed at influencing obesity planning for complex systems design (9 reports from US and Canadian governmental or health authorities, 1 Cochrane review, and 2 Institute of Medicine reports). We sorted data using the intervention-level framework (ILF), a novel solutions-oriented approach to complex problems. An in-depth comparison of 3 documents provides further insight into complexity and systems design in obesity policy.
resultsThe majority of strategies focused mainly on changing the determinants of energy imbalance (food intake and physical activity). ILF analysis brings to the surface actions aimed at higher levels of system function and points to a need for more innovative policy design.
conclusionsAlthough many policymakers acknowledge obesity as a complex problem, many strategies stem from the paradigm of individual choice and are limited in scope. The ILF provides a template to encourage natural systems thinking and more strategic policy design grounded in complexity science.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.