A foresight whole systems obesity classification for the English UK biobank cohort

BACKGROUND: The number of people living with obesity or who are overweight presents a global challenge, and the development of effective interventions is hampered by a lack of research which takes a joined up, whole system, approach that considers multiple elements of the complex obesity system together. We need to better understand the collective characteristics and behaviours of those who are overweight or have obesity and how these differ from those who maintain a healthy weight. METHODS: Using the UK Biobank cohort we develop an obesity classification system using k-means clustering. Variable selection from the UK Biobank cohort is informed by the Foresight obesity system map across key domains (Societal Influences, Individual Psychology, Individual Physiology, Individual Physical Activity, Physical Activity Environment). RESULTS: Our classification identifies eight groups of people, similar in respect to their exposure to known drivers of obesity: ‘Younger, urban hard-pressed’, ‘Comfortable, fit families’, ‘Healthy, active and retirees’, ‘Content, rural and retirees’, ‘Comfortable professionals’, ‘Stressed and not in work’, ‘Deprived with less healthy lifestyles’ and ‘Active manual workers’. Pen portraits are developed to describe the characteristics of these different groups. Multinomial logistic regression is used to demonstrate that the classification can effectively detect groups of individuals more likely to be living with overweight or obesity. The group identified as ‘Comfortable, fit families’ are observed to have a higher proportion of healthy weight, while three groups have increased relative risk of being overweight or having obesity: ‘Active manual workers’, ‘Stressed and not in work’ and ‘Deprived with less healthy lifestyles’. CONCLUSIONS: This paper presents the first study of UK Biobank participants to adopt this obesity system approach to characterising participants. It provides an innovative new approach to better understand the complex drivers of obesity which has the potential to produce meaningful tools for policy makers to better target interventions across the whole system to reduce overweight and obesity. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-022-12650-x.