Top 100 Most Cited Studies in Obesity Research: A Bibliometric Analysis

Obesity represents a major global public health problem. In the past few decades the prevalence of obesity has increased worldwide. In 2016, an estimated 1.9 billion adults were overweight; of these more than 650 million were obese. There is an urgent need for potential solutions and deeper understanding of the risk factors responsible for obesity. A bibliometric analysis study was designed to provide a comprehensive overview of top 100 most cited studies on obesity indexed in Web of Science database. The online search was conducted on June 6, 2021 using the keywords “Obesity” OR “Obese” OR “Overweight” in title filed with no limitations on document types or languages. The top 100 cited studies were selected in descending order based on number of citations. The obtained data were imported in to Microsoft Excel 2019 to extract the basic information such as title, authors name, journal name, year of publication and total citations. In addition, the data were also imported in to HistCite™ for further citation analysis, and VOSviewer software for windows to plot the data for network visualization mapping. The initial search retrieved a total of 167,553 documents on obesity. Of the total retrieved documents, only top 100 most cited studies on obesity were included for further analysis. These studies were published from 1982 to 2017 in English language. Most of the studies were published as an article (n = 84). The highly cited study on obesity was “Establishing a standard definition for child overweight and obesity worldwide: international survey” published in BMJ-British Medical Journal (Impact Factor 39.890, Incites Journal Citation Reports, 2021) in 2000 cited 10,543 times. The average number of citations per study was 2,947.22 (ranging from 1,566 to 10,543 citations). Two studies had more than 10,000 citations. A total of 2,272 authors from 111 countries were involved. The most prolific author was Flegal KM authored 14 studies with 53,558 citations. The highly active country in obesity research was United States of America. The included studies were published in 33 journals. The most attractive journal was JAMA-Journal of the American Medical Association (Impact Factor 56.272) published 17 studies and cited globally 51,853 times. The most frequently used keywords were obesity (n = 87) and overweight (n = 22). The countries with highest total link strength was United States of America (n = 155), followed by England (n = 140), and Scotland (n = 130). Our results show that most number of highly cited studies were published in developed countries. The findings of this study can serve as a standard benchmark for researchers to provide the quality bibliographic references and insights into the future research trends and scientific cooperation in obesity research.

Research priority setting in obesity: a systematic review

Aim Obesity research priority setting, if conducted to a high standard, can help promote policy-relevant and efficient research. Therefore, there is a need to identify existing research priority setting studies conducted in the topic area of obesity and to determine the extent to which they followed good practice principles for research priority setting. Method Studies examining research priority setting in obesity were identified through searching the MEDLINE, PBSC, CINAHL, PsycINFO databases and the grey literature. The nine common themes of good practice in research priority setting were used as a methodological framework to evaluate the processes of the included studies. These were context, use of a comprehensive approach, inclusiveness, information gathering, planning for implementation, criteria, methods for deciding on priorities, evaluation and transparency. Results Thirteen articles reporting research prioritisation exercises conducted in different areas of obesity research were included. All studies reported engaging with various stakeholders such as policy makers, researchers and healthcare professionals. Public involvement was included in six studies. Methods of research prioritisation commonly included both Delphi and nominal group techniques and surveys. None of the 13 studies fulfilled all nine of the good practice criteria for research priority setting, with the most common limitations including not using a comprehensive approach and lack of inclusivity and evaluating on their processes. Conclusion There is a need for research priority setting studies in obesity to involve the public and to evaluate their exercises to ensure they are of high quality.

A mixed methods analysis of environmental and household chaos: considerations for early-childhood obesity research

Background Chaos has implications for child health that may extend to childhood obesity. Yet, results from studies describing associations between chaos and childhood obesity are mixed. New approaches to studying the environments of young children may help to clarify chaos-obesity relationships. Methods We conducted a concurrent mixed methods analysis of quantitative and qualitative data describing home and neighborhood chaos among a diverse cohort of 283 caregiver-toddlers dyads from Ohio. We examined the underlying structure of environmental and household chaos using exploratory factor analysis then sought to validate the structure using qualitative field notes. We generated total scores for factors of chaos and described their distributions overall and according to cohort characteristics. Additionally, we conducted a thematic content analysis of brief ethnographies to provide preliminary construct validity for our indicators of chaos. Results Dyads varied according to household composition, income, education, and race/ethnicity. We found evidence for a multi-factor structure for chaos, which included disorganization and neighborhood noise. Household disorganization scores ranged from 0 to 7.3 and were on average 2.1 (SD = 1.8). Neighborhood noise scores ranged from 0 to 4 and were on average 1.1 (SD = 1.1). Both disorganization and neighborhood noise were associated with indicators of socioeconomic disadvantage, such as lower educational attainment and household income. Qualitative data from households with high and low scores on the two identified factors were aligned in ways that were supportive of construct validity and further contextualized the social and material environments in which chaos occurred. Conclusions Chaos represents a complex construct with implications spanning various disciplines, including childhood obesity research. Previous studies suggest challenges associated with measuring chaos may limit the conclusions that can be drawn about which aspect of chaos (if any) matter most of early childhood weight development. We advance the literature by demonstrating chaos may be comprised of conceptually distinct subdomains. Future childhood obesity prevention research may benefit from more contemporary measure of chaos, such as those relying on direct observations that account for a multifaceted underlying structure.

Salivary Metabolic Hormones as Biomarkers of Childhood Obesity

IntroductionObesity is a major threat to the health and development of children. While hormones in serum samples have been extensively investigated in childhood obesity research, our study attempts to explore salivary metabolic hormones as biomarkers of childhood obesity.MethodsObese (n=83) and non-obese (n=83) school children aged 6-11 years were recruited as cases and controls, respectively, for this case-control study. Salivary concentrations of the hormones, Ghrelin, Leptin, Adiponectin and Insulin were assessed and compared between obese and non-obese children to evaluate their role in childhood obesity. Results The mean ghrelin (1.69 ± 0.38 pg/ml) and adiponectin (95.53 ± 64.92 ng/ml) levels of the non-obese children were higher than the mean values of the obese, while the mean values of the hormones leptin (265.95 ± 83.16 pg/ml) and insulin (224.56 ± 184.86 pg/ml) were found to be higher among the obese. Higher levels of the hormones insulin (OR: 1.09; 95% CI: 1.05-1.12) and leptin (OR: 1.03; 95% CI: 1.02-1.04) posed higher risks for childhood obesity, followed by adiponectin, which was found to be lower among the cases (OR: 0.99; 95% CI: 0.99995-0.99998) which increased the risk of childhood obesity.ConclusionThis study demonstrates the efficacy of saliva as a promising non-invasive tool in childhood obesity research and highlights the significance of appetite regulatory hormones as biomarkers of childhood obesity.

Obesity Animal Models for Acupuncture and Related Therapy Research Studies

Obesity and related diseases are considered as pandemic representing a worldwide threat for health. Animal models are critical to validate the effects and understand the mechanisms related to classical or innovative preventive and therapeutic strategies. It is, therefore, important to identify the best animal models for translational research, using different evaluation criteria such as the face, construct, and predictive validity. Because the pharmacological treatments and surgical interventions currently used for treating obesity often present many undesirable side effects, relatively high relapse probabilities, acupuncture, electroacupuncture (EA), and related therapies have gained more popularity and attention. Many kinds of experimental animal models have been used for obesity research studies, but in the context of acupuncture, most of the studies were performed in rodent obesity models. Though, are these obesity rodent models really the best for acupuncture or related therapies research studies? In this study, we review different obesity animal models that have been used over the past 10 years for acupuncture and EA research studies. We present their respective advantages, disadvantages, and specific constraints. With the development of research on acupuncture and EA and the increasing interest regarding these approaches, proper animal models are critical for preclinical studies aiming at developing future clinical trials in the human. The aim of the present study is to provide researchers with information and guidance related to the preclinical models that are currently available to investigate the outcomes of acupuncture and related therapies.

A brief study of mechanism, animal models, and management for obesity

Obesity appears as fat accumulation in adipose tissue from high energy intake and insufficient energy consumption. It is accompanied by several factors such as genetics, environmental, fetal nutrition, energy intake and expenditure, and culture. These factors stimulate several other mechanisms that contribute to obesity and obesity-related disorders such as hypertension, diabetes, arthritis, hyperlipidemia, coronary heart disease, etc. In the present article, we have examined the main factors, symptoms, and special problems associated with obesity, mechanisms of obesity, and the relation of important parameters with obesity. We have also depicted the various animal models for obesity research. Lastly, we have described the management of obesity.