| Title |
The Obesity Epidemic in the Veterans Health Administration: Prevalence Among Key Populations of Women and Men Veterans
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Journal of General Internal Medicine, March 2017
|
| DOI | 10.1007/s11606-016-3962-1 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Jessica Y. Breland, Ciaran S. Phibbs, Katherine J. Hoggatt, Donna L. Washington, Jimmy Lee, Sally Haskell, Uchenna S. Uchendu, Fay S. Saechao, Laurie C. Zephyrin, Susan M. Frayne |
| Abstract |
Most US adults are overweight or obese. Understanding differences in obesity prevalence across subpopulations could facilitate the development and dissemination of weight management services. To inform Veterans Health Administration (VHA) weight management initiatives, we describe obesity prevalence among subpopulations of VHA patients. Cross-sectional descriptive analyses of fiscal year 2014 (FY2014) national VHA administrative and clinical data, stratified by gender. Differences ≥5% higher than the population mean were considered clinically significant. Veteran VHA primary care patients with a valid weight within ±365 days of their first FY2014 primary care visit, and a valid height (98% of primary care patients). We used VHA vital signs data to ascertain height and weight and calculate body mass index, and VHA outpatient, inpatient, and fee basis data to identify sociodemographic- and comorbidity-based subpopulations. Among nearly five million primary care patients (347,112 women, 4,567,096 men), obesity prevalence was 41% (women 44%, men 41%), and overweight prevalence was 37% (women 31%, men 38%). Across the VHA's 140 facilities, obesity prevalence ranged from 28% to 49%. Among gender-stratified subpopulations, obesity prevalence was high among veterans under age 65 (age 18-44: women 40%, men 46%; age 45-64: women 49%, men 48%). Obesity prevalence varied across racial/ethnic and comorbidity subpopulations, with high obesity prevalence among black women (51%), women with schizophrenia (56%), and women and men with diabetes (68%, 56%). Overweight and obesity are common among veterans served by the VHA. VHA's weight management initiatives have the potential to avert long-term morbidity arising from obesity-related conditions. High-risk groups-such as black women veterans, women veterans with schizophrenia, younger veterans, and Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander and American Indian/Alaska Native veterans-may require particular attention to ensure that systems improvement efforts at the population level do not inadvertently increase health disparities. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 10 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 7 | 70% |
| Unknown | 3 | 30% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 7 | 70% |
| Scientists | 2 | 20% |
| Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 1 | 10% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 152 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Unknown | 152 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 18 | 12% |
| Researcher | 17 | 11% |
| Student > Master | 15 | 10% |
| Student > Doctoral Student | 15 | 10% |
| Student > Bachelor | 15 | 10% |
| Other | 31 | 20% |
| Unknown | 41 | 27% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Medicine and Dentistry | 39 | 26% |
| Nursing and Health Professions | 18 | 12% |
| Psychology | 13 | 9% |
| Social Sciences | 10 | 7% |
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 6 | 4% |
| Other | 15 | 10% |
| Unknown | 51 | 34% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 7. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 22 August 2022.
All research outputs
#5,511,822
of 25,744,802 outputs
Outputs from Journal of General Internal Medicine
#3,253
of 8,246 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#89,792
of 322,051 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Journal of General Internal Medicine
#36
of 95 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,744,802 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 78th percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 8,246 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 22.2. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 60% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 322,051 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 72% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 95 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 62% of its contemporaries.