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PharmacoEconomics
Published in: PharmacoEconomics 7/2015

01-07-2015 | Review Article

The Epidemiology of Obesity: A Big Picture

Authors: Adela Hruby, Frank B. Hu

Published in: PharmacoEconomics | Issue 7/2015

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Abstract

The epidemic of overweight and obesity presents a major challenge to chronic disease prevention and health across the life course around the world. Fueled by economic growth, industrialization, mechanized transport, urbanization, an increasingly sedentary lifestyle, and a nutritional transition to processed foods and high-calorie diets over the last 30 years, many countries have witnessed the prevalence of obesity in its citizens double and even quadruple. A rising prevalence of childhood obesity, in particular, forebodes a staggering burden of disease in individuals and healthcare systems in the decades to come. A complex, multifactorial disease, with genetic, behavioral, socioeconomic, and environmental origins, obesity raises the risk of debilitating morbidity and mortality. Relying primarily on epidemiologic evidence published within the last decade, this non-exhaustive review discusses the extent of the obesity epidemic, its risk factors—known and novel—, sequelae, and economic impact across the globe.
Footnotes
2
We do not review the impact of food, agriculture, trade, and nutrition policy on obesity in the present paper, but refer interested readers to a recent review [64]. Further, we do not address the body of growing evidence on the role of environmental pollutants—‘obesogens’—in obesity, specifically those known as endocrine-disrupting chemicals. We refer readers to recent reviews on the topic [35, 36, 65].
 
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Metadata
Title
The Epidemiology of Obesity: A Big Picture
Authors
Adela Hruby
Frank B. Hu
Publication date
01-07-2015
Publisher
Springer International Publishing
Published in
PharmacoEconomics / Issue 7/2015
Print ISSN: 1170-7690
Electronic ISSN: 1179-2027
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s40273-014-0243-x

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