Abstract
We aimed to examine the global prevalences of central obesity according to age, sex, race, place of residence, geographical region, national income level, and the definitions of central obesity. MEDLINE and Embase were searched. Studies with sample size of ≥ 500 and investigated individuals aged ≥ 15 years were included. Metaprop (a Stata command) was adopted to conduct a meta-analysis of prevalence, and the Freeman-Tukey Double Arcsine Transformation was used to stabilize the variances. A random-effects model was used to evaluate the prevalence and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of central obesity. There were 288 studies involving 13,233,675 individuals in this analysis. The overall prevalence of central obesity was 41.5% (95% CI 39.9–43.2%). A higher prevalence was found in older individuals, female subjects, urban residents, Caucasians, and populations of higher income level countries. Regarding regional variations, the highest prevalence was found in Sothern America (55.1%, 95% CI 45.8–64.3%) and Central American (52.9%, 95% CI 32.7–72.7%). Its prevalence was rapidly rising from 1985 to 2014. From 1985–1999 to 2010–2014, younger subjects aged 15–40 years showed a more drastic rise in prevalence (16.3 to 33.9%) than subjects aged > 40 years (43.6 to 57.9%). Male individuals have a more drastic rise (25.3 to 41.6%) than females (38.6 to 49.7%). Major increasing in prevalence of the condition in the past three decades, particularly in certain subgroups. These findings could act as a useful reference to inform public health strategies to minimize the impact of central obesity on population health.
Highlights
Central obesity is defined by the World Health Organization defined central obesity as a waist circumference (WC) of greater than 94 cm and 80 cm for males and females, respectively
We retrieved 409 full-text articles assessed for eligibility after 21,182 citations were excluded during title or abstract screening as they did not investigate the prevalence of central obesity, use an observational design, or report original data
It is difficult to compare the prevalence trend across countries and populations at different times. These weaknesses may have limited the generalizability of the results to a particular region or population. This meta-analysis estimated the global prevalence of central obesity in the past few decades using more than 280 population-based studies worldwide
Summary
Central obesity is defined by the World Health Organization defined central obesity as a waist circumference (WC) of greater than 94 cm and 80 cm for males and females, respectively. Extended author information available on the last page of the article for males and 80 cm for females for Europeans, 90 cm for males and 80 cm for females for Asians) [1]. The prevalence of central obesity is rising globally due to a combination of physical inactivity and consumption of unhealthy diet [2]. This has contributed significantly to increased financial burden [3] and avoidable utilization of the healthcare system [4]
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