The Epidemiology of Obesity, A Big Picture

Pharmacoeconomics. 2015 Jul; 33(7): 673–689, doi: 10.1007/s40273-014-0243-x

Adela Hruby, PhD, MPH and Frank B. Hu, MD, PhD, MPH

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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. 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 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.

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Although several viruses have been identified as potentially having a causal role in obesity (76), Ad-36 is among the most studied, being causally associated with adiposity in animals. Studies in diverse human populations generally support greater Ad-36 viral loads as probably causal of obesity in both children and adults (76–79), with links to other metabolic traits (77,79)