Impacts of obesity and obesogenic behaviours on climate change: a systematic review protocol

Abstract

Background Unbalanced diet and sedentary habits, defined as obesogenic behaviours, are continuously rising in our society, posing serious threats to public health. Indeed, this lifestyle exacerbates pathological conditions, including obesity, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular risk and cancer. Climate change, increasing temperatures and extreme weather exacerbate obesogenic behaviours. Climate and environment strongly influence lifestyles and can in some way promote obesogenic behaviour. However, little is known about the effects of obesogenic behaviours/obesity on climate change. To address this relation, we planned a systematic review with eventual meta-analysis. Methods Terms related to obesogenic behaviours and climate change will be used to develop the search algorithm which will be applied to four databases: PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and EBSCO. Title and abstracts will be screened, and two reviewers will review article full-text. The risk of bias of the eligible publications will be assessed using the Office of Health Assessment and Translation (OHAT) tool. Results will be summarized narratively and if possible, meta-analysis will be performed. Discussion Obesogenic behaviours are recognized threats to public health. Instead, the effects that these habits could have on climate change are less recognized and, yet to date, no systematic review has addressed this relation. In this study we will consider the data currently available to deepen our knowledge about the role of human behaviours on greenhouse gases and climate change, and possibly identify strengths on which we can act. The identification of new strategies and guidelines could have a beneficial impact, on a short term, on public health and, on a long term, would mitigate climate changes, that in turn would reduce the incidence of obesity. Registration In accordance with PRISMA guidelines, our systematic review protocol was registered with the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) on 29 October 2023 (registration number CRD42023473107).