SynthesisJournal of general internal medicine2018
Effectiveness of Policies and Programs to Combat Adult Obesity: a Systematic Review.
Synthesis in Journal of general internal medicine, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 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
29 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 54 citations in OpenAlex.
- Application of system dynamics approach in developing health interventions to strengthen health systems to combat obesity: a systematic literature review and critical analysis.BMC public health · 2025Pooled it
- Examining the effectiveness of place-based interventions to improve public health and reduce health inequalities: an umbrella review.BMC public health · 2021Pooled it
- Associations between the built environment and obesity: an umbrella review.International journal of health geographics · 2021Pooled it
- Article
- Article
- Multilevel Analysis of the Food and Physical Activity Environment and Adult Obesity Across U.S. Counties and States.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Article
- Community-Based BMI Screening for Overweight and Obesity in Adults Aged 35 Years and Older in Malaysia: Regression Discontinuity Analysis.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2025Article
- Article
- County-level association of diabetes and obesity with premature mortality.Preventive medicine reports · 2025Article
- Global barriers to decision makers for prioritizing interventions for obesity.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2025Article
- Social and Structural Determinants of Health and Social Injustices Contributing to Obesity Disparities.Current obesity reports · 2024Review
- Risk Factors and 20-Year Time-Trend in Childhood Overweight and Obesity in Switzerland: A Repeated Cross-Sectional Study.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Effects of changes in residential fast-food outlet exposure on Body Mass Index change: longitudinal evidence from 92,211 Lifelines participants.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2024Article
- Intake of foods high in saturated fats, vegetarian dietary pattern, and sociodemographic characteristics associated with body weight in Peruvian university students.Frontiers in nutrition · 2024Article
- Update on the Obesity Epidemic: After the Sudden Rise, Is the Upward Trajectory Beginning to Flatten?Current obesity reports · 2023Review
- Global, regional, and national burden of diabetes from 1990 to 2021, with projections of prevalence to 2050: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021.Lancet (London, England) · 2023Article
- Article
- Heterogeneity in place effects on health: The case of time preferences and adolescent obesity.Economics and human biology · 2023Article
- Obesity as a Main Threat to Future Improvements in Population Health: Policy Opportunities and Challenges.The Milbank quarterly · 2023Article
- The Cognitive Burden of Poverty: A Mechanism of Socioeconomic Health Disparities.American journal of preventive medicine · 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
9 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThis systematic review identifies programs, policies, and built-environment changes targeting prevention and control of adult obesity and evaluates their effectiveness.
methodsWe searched PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and EconLit from January 2000 to March 2018. We included natural experiment studies evaluating a program, policy, or built-environment change targeting adult obesity and reporting weight/body mass index (BMI). Studies were categorized by primary intervention target: physical activity/built environment, food/beverage, messaging, or multiple. Two reviewers independently assessed the risk of bias for each study using the Effective Public Health Practice Project tool.
resultsOf 158 natural experiments targeting obesity, 17 reported adult weight/BMI outcomes. Four of 9 studies reporting on physical activity/built environment demonstrated reduced weight/BMI, although effect sizes were small with low strength of evidence and high risk of bias. None of the 5 studies targeting the food/beverage environment decreased weight/BMI; strength of evidence was low, and 2 studies were rated high risk of bias. DISCUSSION: We identified few natural experiments reporting on the effectiveness of programs, policies, and built-environment changes on adult obesity. Overall, we found no evidence that policies intending to promote physical activity and healthy eating had beneficial effects on weight/BMI and most studies had a high risk of bias. Limitations include few studies met our inclusion criteria; excluded studies in children and those not reporting on weight/BMI outcomes; weight/BMI reporting was very heterogeneous. More high-quality research, including natural experiments studies, is critical for informing the population-level effectiveness of obesity prevention and control initiatives in adults.
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.