Overweight and obesity among survivors of humanitarian crises
Citation: Shortland T, McGranahan M, Stewart D, et al. A systematic review of the burden of, access to services for and perceptions of patients with overweight and obesity, in humanitarian crisis settings. PLoS One. 2023;18(4):e0282823.
Language: EN.
Free to view: Yes.
Funding sources: National Institute for Health and Care Research (UK).
What is this? In this systematic review, the authors searched for studies that explored the incidence, prevalence, care, or experience of overweight or obese people in populations affected by humanitarian crises. They did not restrict their searches by language, location, or type of study. The authors included 56 reports from 45 studies published after 2010.
What was found? Adiposity was ubiquitous and increased over time among women and older adults. Pravalence estimates for obesity or overweight increased with age and varied widely. The authors did not find any reports on the cascade of care or the experiences of patients who were overweight or obese.
Implications: The authors of the review stated that service providers need to be prepared for increasing levels of overweight, obesity, and cardiometabolic complications. Research is needed to identify appropriate interventions for different settings.
Other considerations: The authors of the review discussed their findings in the context of gender, sex, socioeconomic status, and age.
This summary was prepared by Eszter Szocs, checked by Grace Meng, and finalized by William Summerskill.