ArticlePloS one2016
Quantifying a Systems Map: Network Analysis of a Childhood Obesity Causal Loop Diagram.
Article in PloS one, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 49 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
49 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Participatory systems mapping: a review of population health research practice.Health research policy and systems · 2026Pooled it
- Participatory System Mapping of a Hospice Care System With Hospice Stakeholders: Hybrid Design Workshop Study.Journal of participatory medicine · 2026Article
- Diagrams-to-Dynamics (D2D): Exploring causal loop diagram leverage points under uncertainty.BMC medicine · 2026Article
- Tracing the threads: a system dynamics and network diffusion model of kangaroo care implementation in neonatal care.Implementation science communications · 2026Article
- Article
- Food preparation skills and obesity risk in European children aged 6-9 years: a cross-sectional study using WHO COSI 2022-2024'.European journal of nutrition · 2026Article
- Mapping ActEarly: Using a child health map to evaluate a City Collaboratory programme on early promotion of good health and wellbeing.PloS one · 2026Article
- Immunometabolic Pathways: Investigating Mediators of Major Depressive Disorder and Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease Comorbidity.Biological psychiatry global open science · 2025Article
- Strategizing towards the future hospital: a systems thinking approach.Health research policy and systems · 2025Article
- Equity, power and resources in primary health care reform: insights from Aotearoa New Zealand.International journal for equity in health · 2025Article
- Integration of large-scale community-developed causal loop diagrams: a Natural Language Processing approach to merging factors based on semantic similarity.BMC public health · 2025Article
- A participatory needs assessment to map the system dynamics of overweight related behaviours of 10-14-year-old adolescents living in an underserved neighbourhood in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.BMC public health · 2025Article
- How Systems Mapping Can Be an Important Health Communication Tool.Journal of health communication · 2025Article
- Mapping complex public health problems with causal loop diagrams.International journal of epidemiology · 2024Article
- An ecological view on the correlates of sedentary behavior in Brazilian adolescents: a cross-sectional study with network analysis.Journal of activity, sedentary and sleep behaviors · 2024Article
- The common drivers of children and young people's health and wellbeing across 13 local government areas: a systems view.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Planning, implementing and governing systems-based co-creation: the DISCOVER framework.Health research policy and systems · 2024Article
- Guiding prevention initiatives by applying network analysis to systems maps of adverse childhood experiences and adolescent suicide.Network science (Cambridge University Press) · 2024Article
- Applying systems thinking in youth-centred participatory action research for health promotion in an underserved neighbourhood.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- Using network analysis to identify leverage points based on causal loop diagrams leads to false inference.Scientific reports · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Causal loop diagrams developed by groups capture a shared understanding of complex problems and provide a visual tool to guide interventions. This paper explores the application of network analytic methods as a new way to gain quantitative insight into the structure of an obesity causal loop diagram to inform intervention design. Identification of the structural features of causal loop diagrams is likely to provide new insights into the emergent properties of complex systems and analysing central drivers has the potential to identify leverage points. The results found the structure of the obesity causal loop diagram to resemble commonly observed empirical networks known for efficient spread of information. Known drivers of obesity were found to be the most central variables along with others unique to obesity prevention in the community. While causal loop diagrams are often specific to single communities, the analytic methods provide means to contrast and compare multiple causal loop diagrams for complex problems.
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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.