Adult obesity prevalence and state policymaking in the United States: Is problem severity associated with more policies?

Niggel, Sabrina Jones; Robinson, Scott B.; Hewer, Ian; Noone, JM; Shah, Shweta; Laditka, Sarah B.

doi:10.1016/j.soscij.2013.09.012

Cited by 5 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Our results should be considered within the context of prior studies that found no association between state obesity prevalence and state legislature activity to address the issue 55–58 . Our results may differ because these prior studies were limited to associations between obesity prevalence and legislative action at the state legislature level, not opinions at the legislator level.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 52%

“…54 In contrast, multiple studies found that the introduction or passage of obesity prevention bills in state legislatures was not associated with state obesity prevalence. [55][56][57][58] A limitation of these studies is that they have all focused on behavior at the aggregate legislature (not legislator) level, and none assessed associations between legislators' opinions about a health issue and the epidemiology of that issue among their constituents.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One study of state legislatures found that the odds of a bill being introduced to restrict nonmedical exemptions for school‐entry vaccines increased with the incidence of vaccine‐preventable disease in that state 54 . In contrast, multiple studies found that the introduction or passage of obesity prevention bills in state legislatures was not associated with state obesity prevalence 55–58 . A limitation of these studies is that they have all focused on behavior at the aggregate legislature (not legislator) level, and none assessed associations between legislators’ opinions about a health issue and the epidemiology of that issue among their constituents.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Linking Data on Constituent Health with Elected Officials’ Opinions: Associations Between Urban Health Disparities and Mayoral Officials’ Beliefs About Health Disparities in Their Cities

et al. 2021

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Mayoral officials’ opinions about the existence and fairness of health disparities in their city are positively associated with the magnitude of income‐based life expectancy disparity in their city. Associations between mayoral officials’ opinions about health disparities in their city and the magnitude of life expectancy disparity in their city are not moderated by the social or fiscal ideology of mayoral officials or the ideology of their constituents. Highly visible and publicized information about mortality disparities, such as that related to COVID‐19 disparities, has potential to elevate elected officials’ perceptions of the severity of health disparities and influence their opinions about the issue. Context A substantive body of research has explored what factors influence elected officials’ opinions about health issues. However, no studies have assessed the potential influence of the health of an elected official's constituents. We assessed whether the magnitude of income‐based life expectancy disparity within a city was associated with the opinions of that city's mayoral official (i.e., mayor or deputy mayor) about health disparities in their city. Methods The independent variable was the magnitude of income‐based life expectancy disparity in US cities. The magnitude was determined by linking 2010‐2015 estimates of life expectancy and median household income for 8,434 census tracts in 224 cities. The dependent variables were mayoral officials’ opinions from a 2016 survey about the existence and fairness of health disparities in their city (n = 224, response rate 30.3%). Multivariable logistic regression was used to adjust for characteristics of mayoral officials (e.g., ideology) and city characteristics. Findings In cities in the highest income‐based life expectancy disparity quartile, 50.0% of mayoral officials “strongly agreed” that health disparities existed and 52.7% believed health disparities were “very unfair.” In comparison, among mayoral officials in cities in the lowest disparity quartile 33.9% “strongly agreed” that health disparities existed and 22.2% believed the disparities were “very unfair.” A 1‐year‐larger income‐based life expectancy disparity in a city was associated with 25% higher odds that the city's mayoral official would “strongly agree” that health disparities existed (odds ratio [OR] = 1.25; P = .04) and twice the odds that the city's mayoral official would believe that such disparities were “very unfair” (OR = 2.24; P <.001). Conclusions Mayoral officials’ opinions about health disparities in their jurisdictions are generally aligned with, and potentially influenced by, information about the magnitude of income‐based life expectancy disparities among their constituents.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 52%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Linking Data on Constituent Health with Elected Officials’ Opinions: Associations Between Urban Health Disparities and Mayoral Officials’ Beliefs About Health Disparities in Their Cities

et al. 2021

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“…After 2009, we noted the inclusion of different topics dealing with obesity. These were associated with governmental priorities in this period [ 33 - 35 ].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Text Mining of United States Obesity-Related Public Policies: Systematic Document Search

Finocchio

Dewes²,

et al. 2020

JMIR Public Health Surveill

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Background Obesity has become a worldwide health problem, caused by multiple and complex factors. To face this challenge, governments have played a central role in combating its rise. Considering this, public policies are introduced or enacted for the benefit of whole populations, taking into account the perspective of multiverse social stakeholders based on solid scientific fundamentals. Objective The aim of this study was to examine obesity-related public policies in the United States and the District of Columbia, in order to understand their scientific basis. Methods We analyzed the public policies implemented in the United States from 2003 to 2013, during which time the largest number of obesity-related public policies were introduced, using text mining. Results In total, 1592 obesity-related public policies were retrieved from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Multidisciplinary policies were predominant in the documents analyzed (533/1592, 33.5%), followed by health sciences (454/1592, 28.5%), social sciences (330/1592, 20.7%), life sciences (240/1592, 15.1%), and physical sciences (35/1592, 2.2%). Throughout the country, most policies were community oriented (1082/1865, 58.0%) and many of them were related to school and family environments (447/1865, 24.0%), early care and education (75/1865, 4.0%), hospitals (63/1865, 3.4%), and workplaces (47/1865, 2.5%). Conclusions The contents of obesity-related public policies were generally uniformly framed across the United States. They were generally based on scientific references, in which there was a predominance of multidisciplinary research. These findings are consistent with what is known about the multiple factors causing obesity and about the methods being developed to control the epidemic.

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“…After 2009, we noted the inclusion of different topics dealing with obesity. These were associated with governmental priorities in this period [33][34][35].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Text Mining of United States Obesity-Related Public Policies: Systematic Document Search (Preprint)

Finocchio¹,

Dewes²,

Mores³

et al. 2019

Preprint

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BACKGROUND Obesity has become a health problem worldwide, determined by multiple and complex factors, and face to this challenge, governments have played central role in combating its rise. Considering this fact, public policies are introduced or enacted for the benefit of whole populations, taking into account the prospective of multiverse social stakeholders based on solid scientific fundamentals. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to examine obesity-related public policies (ORPP) in all US states and District of Columbia, in order to understand their scientific basis. METHODS We analyzed the public policies, as implemented in the United States, in the time window when this health-related trend was a major governmental concern. In total, 1,592 ORPP were selected and analyzed through text mining technique. RESULTS The multidisciplinary area was predominant in the documents analyzed (33.5%), followed by Health Sciences (28.5%), Social Sciences (20.7%), Life Sciences (15.1%) and Physical Sciences (2.2%). Besides, throughout the country most policies were community oriented and many of them were related to school and family environments, early care and education, hospitals and workplaces. CONCLUSIONS The results indicate an appropriate analysis and the use of scientific knowledge by policy makers, highlighting the multidisciplinary approach. The results showed that ORPP contents are generally uniformly framed in all US states. However, the implementation of public policies can be affected by a wide range of factors that challenge its effectiveness.

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Adult obesity prevalence and state policymaking in the United States: Is problem severity associated with more policies?

Cited by 5 publications

References 16 publications

Linking Data on Constituent Health with Elected Officials’ Opinions: Associations Between Urban Health Disparities and Mayoral Officials’ Beliefs About Health Disparities in Their Cities

Linking Data on Constituent Health with Elected Officials’ Opinions: Associations Between Urban Health Disparities and Mayoral Officials’ Beliefs About Health Disparities in Their Cities

Text Mining of United States Obesity-Related Public Policies: Systematic Document Search

Text Mining of United States Obesity-Related Public Policies: Systematic Document Search (Preprint)

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