Impact of Public Health Interventions on Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes Prevention: A Simulation Study

Little is known about what interventions worked or did not work in slowing the obesity epidemic. The long-term comparative effectiveness of environmental and behavioral public health interventions for obesity and type 2 diabetes prevention over an individual's life course is relatively unexplored. The potential impact and long-term collective effectiveness of environmental and behavioral interventions on obesity and type 2 diabetes throughout the life course was evaluated.

The Virtual Los Angeles Obesity Model developed in 2016 was used to estimate the incidence and prevalence of obesity and type 2 diabetes under current and hypothetical interventions among 98,000 individuals born in 2009 and followed from birth to age 65 years. Analyses were performed in 2016 and completed in 2018.

The 48-year risk of type 2 diabetes was 0.533 (95% CI=0.446, 0.629) under the natural course, 0.451 (95% CI=0.334, 0.570) under the physical activity intervention, and 0.443 (95% CI=0.389, 0.495) under the fast-food intervention. The 64-year risk of obesity was 0.892 (95% CI=0.879, 0.903) under the natural course, 0.876 (95% CI=0.850, 0.899) under the physical activity intervention, and 0.864 (95% CI=0.856, 0.873) under the fast-food intervention. The other interventions had little or no long-term effects. When all the interventions were applied, the population risk ratios were 0.942 (95% CI=0.914, 0.967) and 0.634 (95% CI=0.484, 0.845) for obesity and type 2 diabetes, respectively.

Implementing health interventions continuously throughout the life span and in combination with other interventions could substantially halt the obesity and the type 2 diabetes epidemics.