The global burden of overweight-obesity and its association with economic status, benefiting from STEPs survey of WHO member states: A meta-analysis

• Published in: Preventive medicine reports 2024-10, Vol.46, p.102882, Article 102882
• Main Authors: Islam, A.N.M. Shamsul, Sultana, Hafiza, Nazmul Hassan Refat, Md, Farhana, Zaki, Abdulbasah Kamil, Anton, Meshbahur Rahman, Mohammad
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Meta-analysis; NCDs risk; Overweight and Obesity; Prevalence; Review; STEPs survey
• ISSN: 2211-3355; 2211-3355
• DOI: 10.1016/j.pmedr.2024.102882

•Globally, overweight/obesity is one of the key risk factors of non-communicable diseases.•Using the latest STEPs survey of WHO member states, we estimate the global prevalence of overweight/obesity and its country-economic variations.•The prevalence of global overweight/obesity irrespective of country economic status is 37.0 % [95 % CI: 33 % − 42 %]•The prevalence has found higher in American Samoa [93.5%] and lower in Democratic People’s Republic of Korea [4.4%].•High-income countries are more prevalent and the increase of economic status may lead to 14% increase chance of having overweight/obesity. The World Health Organization (WHO) 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs target 3.4) identifies non-communicable diseases (NCDs) as a key challenge for sustainable development. As one of the major NCD risks, here, we estimated the prevalence of overweight/obesity in adults and assessed country-economic variations using meta-analysis. The latest STEPwise approach to NCD risk factor surveillance (STEPS) report of WHO member states studied on overweight/obesity from 2000 to 2020 were reviewed and related data were assessed further. The prevalence of overweight/obesity was pooled using the random effects model. The subgroup analysis and meta-regression were performed based on countries’ economic status obtained from the World Bank’s country development index 2019. Study heterogeneity and publication bias were also observed. Out of 73 studies with 469,766 participants analyzed, the highest overweight/obesity prevalence was found in American Samoa (93.5 %), while Democratic People’s Republic of Korea had the lowest prevalence (4.4 %). The overall weighted pooled prevalence of overweight/obesity regardless of countries economic status was 37.0 % [95 % CI: 33 %-42 %]. There was significant heterogeneity in the prevalence of overweight/obesity (I2 = 99.91 %; p