Abstract
Objectives: Our main objective is to establish an association between obesity and social networks among the adult population as well as understanding the underlying mechanisms. We aim to provide suggestions for the development of future interventions to treat obesity. Methods: We carried out a literature search from 4 databases: PubMed, Embase, Scopus and Web of Science. We conducted a systematic search targeting on 3 main concept terms—“social network”, “obesity” and “adult”. A final pool of 11 articles best fitted for our topic was included. Results: We have established a clear association between obesity and social networks. Single women with the co-living arrangement have a higher waist circumference (WC), consistent with a higher predisposition to obesity seen among single individuals but lone living divorced men had lower WC compared to those with partners. Women with high incomes are less likely to be obese in comparison to highly social men with low income. The degree of the effect on social networks and obesity was inconclusive due to differences in the study population. Generally, women with low social participation tend to be obese. However, non-partnered women consistently showed a higher WC in comparison to their partnered counterparts regardless of participation rates except for divorced women. Living in a neighborhood with access to active transportation, high socioeconomic status, increased levels of social trust and social support reduces the prevalence of obesity. Mechanisms of cultural ideals, nature of employment, stress, gender, self-selection, network influence, social contagion and shared built environment may have contributed to the variation in results obtained. Conclusion: Association between social network and obesity exists. However, its overall effect on body weight is affected by a variety of factors. Sociodemographic factors and network characteristics of the population may influence the impacts on body weight. Therefore, a good understanding of the mechanisms associated will assist the development of effective network-based interventions.
Highlights
Obesity is a growing public health crisis [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Our main objective is to establish an association between obesity and social networks among the adult population as well as understanding the underlying mechanisms
We conducted a systematic search targeting on 3 main concept terms—“social network”, “obesity” and “adult”
Summary
Obesity is a growing public health crisis [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]. In the past, obesity was regarded only as a problem in high-income countries, but in recent years, its distribution has expanded to many regions regardless of their wealth [1] [6] [7].Obesity is defined as a chronic disease resulting from the pathological buildup of fat which could potentially be detrimental to health [8] [9]. An individual may belong to any one of the 4 categories: underweight, normal, overweight and obese, based on their calculated Body Mass Index (BMI) in accordance with the World Health Organization classification [10] [11]. BMI ranging from 25 - 29.9 kg/m2 would be overweight whereas obese individuals would have a BMI greater than 30 kg/m2 [3] [4] [10] [11]. BMI has been the common method used to stratify individuals into distinct weight groups, percentage of body fat estimated using the Deurenberg equation was preferred by some authorities on the basis that it provides a relatively accurate degree of fat composition independent of one’s muscle mass, allowing identification of people with a high-fat percentage but seemingly normal BMI [11]. Obesity is diagnosed if the fat percentage is more than 25% in males and more than 33% in females [11]
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