Affiliation:
1. Harrington Heart and Vascular Institute University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center & Case Western Reserve University Cleveland Ohio USA
2. Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine Cleveland Ohio USA
3. Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine Cleveland Ohio USA
4. Surgical Services Louis Stokes VA Medical Center, and Case Western Reserve University Cleveland Ohio USA
5. Cardiovascular Prevention and Wellness Houston Methodist DeBakey Heart and Vascular Center Houston Texas USA
Abstract
AbstractAimsTo investigate high‐risk sociodemographic and environmental determinants of health (SEDH) potentially associated with adult obesity in counties in the United States using machine‐learning techniques.Materials and MethodsWe performed a cross‐sectional analysis of county‐level adult obesity prevalence (body mass index ≥30 kg/m2) in the United States using data from the Diabetes Surveillance System 2017. We harvested 49 county‐level SEDH factors that were used in a classification and regression trees (CART) model to identify county‐level clusters. The CART model was validated using a ‘hold‐out’ set of counties and variable importance was evaluated using Random Forest.ResultsOverall, we analysed 2752 counties in the United States, identifying a national median (interquartile range) obesity prevalence of 34.1% (30.2%, 37.7%). The CART method identified 11 clusters with a 60.8% relative increase in prevalence across the spectrum. Additionally, seven key SEDH variables were identified by CART to guide the categorization of clusters, including Physically Inactive (%), Diabetes (%), Severe Housing Problems (%), Food Insecurity (%), Uninsured (%), Population over 65 years (%) and Non‐Hispanic Black (%).ConclusionThere is significant county‐level geographical variation in obesity prevalence in the United States, which can in part be explained by complex SEDH factors. The use of machine‐learning techniques to analyse these factors can provide valuable insights into the importance of these upstream determinants of obesity and, therefore, aid in the development of geo‐specific strategic interventions and optimize resource allocation to help battle the obesity pandemic.