Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32060717›Full record

ArticleJournal of general internal medicine2020

Impact of Changes in Chain Restaurant Calories over Time on Obesity Risk.

Sara N Bleich, Jesse C Jones-Smith, Marian P Jarlenski, Julia A Wolfson, Johannah M Frelier, Huiru Tao, Yuchen Hu, Anna Zink, Caroline G Dunn, Mark J Soto and 1 more

Open access · bronzeAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of general internal medicine, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
0.5field-weighted citation impact, top 30% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed, 5 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Restaurant Advertising Expenditure Patterns in US Counties by Race, Ethnicity, and Income.Journal of urban health : bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine · 2026
    Article
  2. Nutrition and origin of US chain restaurant seafood.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2021
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.

Sara N BleichDepartment of Health Policy and Management, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA. sbleich@hsph.harvard.edu.ORCID 0000-0003-3098-3119
Jesse C Jones-SmithDepartment of Health Services, University of Washington School of Public Health, Seattle, WA, USA.
Marian P JarlenskiDepartment of Health Policy and Management, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Julia A WolfsonDepartment of Health Management and Policy, Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
Johannah M FrelierDepartment of Health Policy and Management, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
Huiru TaoDepartment of Health Policy and Management, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
Yuchen HuDepartment of Health Policy and Management, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
Anna ZinkGraduate School of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Caroline G DunnDepartment of Health Policy and Management, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
Mark J SotoDepartment of Health Policy and Management, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
Bradley J HerringDepartment of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Harvard University · USJohns Hopkins University · USUniversity of Michigan · USUniversity of Pittsburgh · USUniversity of Washington · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundPrior research on the restaurant environment and obesity risk is limited by cross-sectional data and a focus on specific geographic areas.

objectiveTo measure the impact of changes in chain restaurant calories over time on body mass index (BMI).

designWe used a first-difference model to examine whether changes from 2012 to 2015 in chain restaurant calories per capita were associated with percent changes in BMI. We also examined differences by race and county income, restaurant type, and initial body weight categories.

settingUSA (207 counties across 39 states).

participants447,873 adult patients who visited an athenahealth medical provider in 2012 and 2015 where BMI was measured. MAIN OUTCOMES MEASURED: Percent change in objectively measured BMI from 2012 to 2015.

resultsAcross all patients, changes in chain restaurant calories per capita were not associated with percent changes in BMI. For Black or Hispanic adults, a 10% increase in exposure to chain restaurant calories per capita was associated with a 0.16 percentage-point increase in BMI (95% CI 0.03, 0.30). This translates into a predicted weight increase of 0.89 pounds (or a 0.53% BMI increase) for an average weight woman at the 90th percentile of increases in the restaurant environment from 2012 to 2015 versus an increase 0.39 pounds (or 0.23% BMI increase) at the 10th percentile. Greater increases in exposure to chain restaurant calories also significantly increased BMI for Black or Hispanic adults receiving healthcare services in lower-income counties (0.26, 95% CI 0.04, 0.49) and with overweight/obesity (0.16, 95% CI 0.04, 0.29). LIMITATIONS: Generalizability to non-chain restaurants is unknown and the sample of athenahealth patients is relatively homogenous.

conclusionsIncreased exposure to chain restaurant calories per capita was associated with increased weight gain among Black or Hispanic adults.

Indexed as

ObesityRestaurantsAdultBody Mass IndexCross-Sectional StudiesEnergy IntakeFemaleHumansOverweightlongitudinalobesity riskrestaurant caloriesvulnerable populations

Identifiers

PMID32060717
PMCPMC7300171
OpenAlexW3006225883

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.