Global prevalence of obesity and overweight among medical students: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Obesity is a global health concern, and understanding its prevalence among medical students is crucial for shaping targeted interventions. This systematic review and meta-analysis aim to comprehensively assess the prevalence of obesity and overweight among medical students. A systematic literature s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:BMC public health 2024-06, Vol.24 (1), p.1673-9, Article 1673
Main Authors: Shafiee, Arman, Nakhaee, Zahra, Bahri, Razman Arabzadeh, Amini, Mohammad Javad, Salehi, Amirhossein, Jafarabady, Kyana, Seighali, Niloofar, Rashidian, Pegah, Fathi, Hanieh, Esmaeilpur Abianeh, Fatemeh, Omran, Samira Parvizi, Bakhtiyari, Mahmood, Alirezaei, Amirhesam
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Body fat
Body mass index
Body weight
Care and treatment
Demographic aspects
Diagnosis
Exercise
Female
Global health
Global Health - statistics & numerical data
Health aspects
Humans
Literature reviews
Male
Males
Medical colleges
Medical students
Meta-analysis
Obesity
Obesity - epidemiology
Obesity in adolescence
Overweight
Overweight - epidemiology
Physiological aspects
Prevalence
Public health
Reviews
Social aspects
Students
Students, Medical - psychology
Students, Medical - statistics & numerical data
Systematic review
World health
Citations: Items that this one cites
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Summary:Obesity is a global health concern, and understanding its prevalence among medical students is crucial for shaping targeted interventions. This systematic review and meta-analysis aim to comprehensively assess the prevalence of obesity and overweight among medical students. A systematic literature search was conducted across major databases, including PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science, in order to identify relevant studies that evaluated obesity and overweight among medical students. Inclusion criteria encompassed published and peer-reviewed studies reporting the prevalence of obesity among medical students. A total of 1245 studies were screened based on their titles and abstracts, and 99 studies comprised a total sample size of 47,455 medical students across diverse geographical regions were included in this study. The overall pooled prevalence of overweight among medical students was estimated at 18% (95% CI: 17%-20%), with obesity at 9% (95% CI: 7%-11%). The combined prevalence of excess weight (overweight and obesity) was calculated to be 24% (95% CI: 22%-27%). Meta-regression results indicated a significant correlation between study year and overweight/obesity prevalence (p 
ISSN:1471-2458
1471-2458
DOI:10.1186/s12889-024-19184-4