Understanding the distribution of the burden of pre-clinical and clinical obesity, their socio-economic distribution, and the impact across the life course in terms of physical, mental, and social outcomes is essential to inform decision making of policy makers and facilitate identification of priorities for clinical and public health interventions.
Background
Obesity is now a global health crisis, affecting almost 900 million adults worldwide in 2022, four times more than in 1990. Obesity increases the risk of serious health conditions, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, certain cancers, and premature death. Having too much body fat is linked to harmful processes in the body, such as ongoing inflammation, changes in hormones and appetite control, and insulin resistance which means that the body has trouble using insulin, so sugar stays in the blood instead of being used for energy. It increases the risk of early death, often returns even after treatment, and is associated with many serious health problems. The 2025 Lancet Commission has introduced a new way to define obesity, separating it into obesity as a risk factor, known as pre-clinical obesity, and obesity as a disease on its own, known as clinical obesity. The study will use data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study, a nationally representative survey tracking UK households over time to study health, social, and economic outcomes.
Project Aims
We aim to estimate how common pre-clinical and clinical obesity are and how they are distributed across different parts of the UK. We will examine differences by age, sex, education, and ethnicity. We will also study how clinical obesity is linked to physical and mental health, as well as social outcomes such as employment and retirement, across different stages of life. The analyses will compare different population groups to understand who is most affected and explore factors that could be changed through policy to reduce the impact of obesity.
Project Activity
- Literature review
- Analysis 1-Disease mapping (regional/LSOA), multilevel modelling
- Analysis 2- GLM in cross sectional analyses; mix of random and fixed effects regression and structural equation modelling for longitudinal analyses.
- Outreach activities: public engagement workshop to co-design interventions; end of-project workshop
Anticipated or actual outputs
- Inform prioritisation of resources across the system (local authorities, ICS) especially during this stage of restructuring and reduction in funding; support the co-design of preventative interventions.
- Provide additional data and evidence to further develop the approach for the prescription of medication for obesity (GLP-1RAs).
- At national level this work will provide evidence for the implementation of the 3 shifts of the 10-years NHS plan and in particular the discussion around personalised prevention of obesity.
Papers and resources
Read the paper titled, 'Definition and diagnostic criteria of clinical obesity'
Who is involved?
- Professor Meena Kumari, Director Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex
- Dr Cara Booker, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex
Contact
Mariachiara Di Cesare, m.dicesare@essex.ac.uk
