Controlling the obesity pandemic: Geoffrey Rose revisited
Open accessAbstract
The ongoing obesity pandemic threatens the health of hundreds of millions globally. However, to date, no country has had much success in limiting its growth, let alone reversing it. This commentary demonstrates the relevance to the obesity pandemic of the public health conceptual framework of epidemiologist Geoffrey Rose, first published as “Sick Individuals and Sick Populations” in 1985. That framework provides a useful way to analyze the pandemic’s prevention and control options, based on the notions of primordial, primary, secondary and tertiary prevention—the full spectrum of “more upstream and more downstream” approaches, each with its pros and cons. Based on an analysis of key studies to date, this commentary argues strongly that only the primordial prevention approach is likely to be successful against the obesity pandemic—but its onerous requirements for society-wide behavioural and cultural change may make that public health struggle a long one.
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- Authors
- Frank, J. W.
- Affiliations
- University of Toronto (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Frank, John W.
- ORCID
- Frank, John W.
- Venue
- Canadian Journal of Public Health
- Published
- 2022-04-22
- Volume
- 113
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 736-742
- ISSN
- 0008-4263 (ISSN-L)
- 1920-7476
- PMC
- PMC9481849
- OpenAlex
- W4224277844
- Cited by
- 18
- References
- 38
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 3
- FWCI
- 3.53
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Canadian Journal of Public Health (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Edinburgh Research Explorer (University of Edinburgh) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Pharmacy › Obesity and Health Practices
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Public Health Policies and Education
- Keywords
- obesity epidemic, Geoffrey Rose, primordial prevention, primary prevention, secondary prevention, tertiary prevention, population-based prevention, behavior change, cultural change, obesity prevention
- MeSH terms
- Humans, Obesity, Primary Prevention, Public Health, Pandemics
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