SynthesisEuropean journal of epidemiology2020
Global, regional and time-trend prevalence of central obesity: a systematic review and meta-analysis of 13.2 million subjects.
Synthesis in European journal of epidemiology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 182 papers, 13 of them syntheses 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
182 citing papers in PubMed, 13 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 314 citations in OpenAlex.
- Coronary Artery Disease in Masters Athletes: A Systematic Review.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2026Pooled it
- Intervention Effects of Recreational Football on Obesity-Related Health Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of sports science & medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Efficacy and safety of botulinum neurotoxin in the treatment of hemifacial spasms: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC neurology · 2024Pooled it
- Associations of obesity indices change with cardiovascular outcomes: a dose-response meta-analysis.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2024Pooled it
- Ultra-processed food consumption and metabolic disease risk: an umbrella review of systematic reviews with meta-analyses of observational studies.Frontiers in nutrition · 2024Pooled it
- The association between screen use and central obesity among children and adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of health, population, and nutrition · 2023Pooled it
- Obesity as an independent risk factor for COVID-19 severity and mortality.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2023Pooled it
- The relationship between central obesity and risk of breast cancer: a dose-response meta-analysis of 7,989,315 women.Frontiers in nutrition · 2023Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Analysis of Changes in Weight, Waist Circumference, or Both, and All-Cause Mortality in Chinese Adults.JAMA network open · 2022Pooled it
- Prevalence of central obesity and associated factors in Ethiopia: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2022Pooled it
- Prevalence of overweight and obesity among Brazilian adolescents over time: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Public health nutrition · 2021Pooled it
- The influence of the urban food environment on diet, nutrition and health outcomes in low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic review.BMJ global health · 2021Pooled it
- Effect of a walnut-based low carbohydrate diet on fat redistribution and visceral fat accumulation in people with central obesity: A randomized controlled trial.Asia Pacific journal of clinical nutrition · 2026Trial
- Comparison of central obesity prevalence among adults living with and without HIV in Botswana: a cross-sectional study.BMJ open · 2025Trial
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- Clinical value of the new obesity definition for cardiovascular events in a Middle Eastern population: the TLGS.American journal of preventive cardiology · 2026Article
- Migraine and Obesity: From Shared Mechanisms to Therapeutic Strategies.Neurology and therapy · 2026Review
- Does the Carbohydrate-Insulin Model Explain Obesity? Evidence from Mechanistic and Clinical Studies: A Critical Review.Current obesity reports · 2026Review
122 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
10 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
We aimed to examine the global prevalences of central obesity according to age, sex, race, place of residence, geographical region, national income level, and the definitions of central obesity. MEDLINE and Embase were searched. Studies with sample size of ≥ 500 and investigated individuals aged ≥ 15 years were included. Metaprop (a Stata command) was adopted to conduct a meta-analysis of prevalence, and the Freeman-Tukey Double Arcsine Transformation was used to stabilize the variances. A random-effects model was used to evaluate the prevalence and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of central obesity. There were 288 studies involving 13,233,675 individuals in this analysis. The overall prevalence of central obesity was 41.5% (95% CI 39.9-43.2%). A higher prevalence was found in older individuals, female subjects, urban residents, Caucasians, and populations of higher income level countries. Regarding regional variations, the highest prevalence was found in Sothern America (55.1%, 95% CI 45.8-64.3%) and Central American (52.9%, 95% CI 32.7-72.7%). Its prevalence was rapidly rising from 1985 to 2014. From 1985-1999 to 2010-2014, younger subjects aged 15-40 years showed a more drastic rise in prevalence (16.3 to 33.9%) than subjects aged > 40 years (43.6 to 57.9%). Male individuals have a more drastic rise (25.3 to 41.6%) than females (38.6 to 49.7%). Major increasing in prevalence of the condition in the past three decades, particularly in certain subgroups. These findings could act as a useful reference to inform public health strategies to minimize the impact of central obesity on population health.
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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.