ArticleThe Lancet. Global health2019
The shift of obesity burden by socioeconomic status between 1998 and 2017 in Latin America and the Caribbean: a cross-sectional series study.
Article in The Lancet. Global health, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 76 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
76 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 139 citations in OpenAlex.
- Interventions to prevent obesity in children aged 2 to 4 years old.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Interventions to prevent obesity in children aged 12 to 18 years old.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Interventions to prevent obesity in children aged 5 to 11 years old.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Sugar sweetened beverages attributable disease burden and the potential impact of policy interventions: a systematic review of epidemiological and decision models.BMC public health · 2021Pooled it
- Time-trend in excess weight in Brazilian adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis.PloS one · 2021Pooled it
- Prevalence of overweight and obesity and the burden of high body-mass index in Latin America: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2023.Lancet regional health. Americas · 2026Article
- Predicted Excess Cardiovascular Age and a Reverse Socioeconomic Gradient in a Middle-Income Latin American Country: A Population-Based Analysis of 163,889 Peruvians.Journal of cardiovascular development and disease · 2026Article
- Population trends in nutritional status and socioeconomic divergence in extreme obesity in Peru: geospatial dynamics and intergenerational risk.Obesity pillars · 2026Article
- Water Insecurity Is Associated with Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Consumption in a Small-Scale Population in Lowland Bolivia Experiencing Lifestyle Changes.Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics · 2026Article
- Türkiye's position in socio-economic inequalities in adult obesity: a gender-specific and regional assessment.Public health nutrition · 2026Article
- Municipal deprivation and cardiometabolic outcomes in Mexican adults: findings from ENSANUT 2021-2023.International journal for equity in health · 2026Article
- Beverage intake among Jamaican School Children: An analysis across child and school environment levels.PloS one · 2026Article
- Maternal overweight and obesity among pregnant women in public hospitals of eastern Ethiopia: Multicentre cross-sectional study.SAGE open medicine · 2026Article
- Examining the reversal hypothesis on socioeconomic status and noncommunicable diseases, and gender disparities in China: a nationwide longitudinal analysis between 1991 and 2020.SSM - population health · 2025Article
- Impact of socioeconomic status on obesity in older adults: the suppressive effect of social support and sleep quality.BMC geriatrics · 2025Article
- Do the effects of interventions aimed at the prevention of childhood obesity reduce inequities? A re-analysis of randomized trial data from two Cochrane reviews.EClinicalMedicine · 2025Article
- Health Disparities Among Ultra-Orthodox and Non-Ultra-Orthodox Residents in Neighboring Cities in Israel: A Cross-Sectional Study.Journal of religion and health · 2025Article
- Progression of obesity and abdominal obesity after the COVID-19 pandemic in Colombia: a comparison of two cross-sectional population-based studies.BMJ public health · 2025Article
- Global Trends in Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Burden, 1990-2021: Insights from the Global Burden of Disease Study.Women's health reports (New Rochelle, N.Y.) · 2025Article
- Epidemiology of cardiometabolic health in Latin America and strategies to address disparities.Nature reviews. Cardiology · 2024Review
16 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
11 authors at 5 institutions in 6 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe burden of obesity differs by socioeconomic status. We aimed to characterise the prevalence of obesity among adult men and women in Latin America and the Caribbean by socioeconomic measures and the shifting obesity burden over time.
methodsWe did a cross-sectional series analysis of obesity prevalence by socioeconomic status by use of national health surveys done between 1998 and 2017 in 13 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. We generated equiplots to display inequalities in, the primary outcome, obesity by wealth, education, and residence area. We measured obesity gaps as the difference in percentage points between the highest and lowest obesity prevalence within each socioeconomic measure, and described trends as well as changing patterns of the obesity burden over time.
findings479 809 adult men and women were included in the analysis. Obesity prevalence across countries has increased over time, with distinct patterns emerging by wealth and education indices. In the most recent available surveys, obesity was most prevalent among women in Mexico in 2016, and the least prevalent among women in Haiti in 2016. The largest gap between the highest and lowest obesity estimates by wealth was observed in Honduras among women (21·6 percentage point gap), and in Peru among men (22·4 percentage point gap), compared with a 3·7 percentage point gap among women in Brazil and 3·3 percentage points among men in Argentina. Urban residents consistently had a larger burden than their rural counterparts in most countries, with obesity gaps ranging from 0·1 percentage points among women in Paraguay to 15·8 percentage points among men in Peru. The trend analysis done in five countries suggests a shifting of the obesity burden across socioeconomic groups and different patterns by gender. Obesity gaps by education in Mexico have reduced over time among women, but increased among men, whereas the gap has increased among women but remains relatively constant among men in Argentina.
interpretationThe increase in obesity prevalence in the Latin American and Caribbean region has been paralleled with an unequal distribution and a shifting burden across socioeconomic groups. Anticipation of the establishment of obesity among low socioeconomic groups could provide opportunities for societal gains in primordial prevention.
fundingNone.
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