Des interventions différentes pour des types d’obésité différentes
 Dr claude Jean Paris

Who are the obese? A cluster analysis exploring subgroups of the obese

1. M.A. Green, Research Associate1, 
2. M. Strong, Senior Clinical Lecturer1, 
3. F. Razak, Bell Postdoctoral Fellow2, 
4. S.V. Subramanian, Professor of Population Health and Geography3,
5. C. Relton, Research Fellow1 and 
6. P. Bissell, Professor of Public Health1

+Author Affiliations

1. ¹School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR), University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
2. ²Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, Harvard T.H. Chan, School of Public Health, Cambridge, MA, USA. Also affiliated with: St. Michael's Hospital, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada and Li Na Shing Knowledge Institute, Toronto, ON, Canada
3. ³School of Public Health, Harvard T.H. Chan, Boston, MA, USA. Also affiliated with: Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, Harvard T.H. Chan, School of Public Health, Cambridge, MA, USA

1. Address correspondence to Mark A. Green, E-mail: mark.green@sheffield.ac.uk

Abstract

Background Body mass index (BMI) can be used to group individuals in terms of their height and weight as obese. However, such a distinction fails to account for the variation within this group across other factors such as health, demographic and behavioural characteristics. The study aims to examine the existence of subgroups of obese individuals.

Methods Data were taken from the Yorkshire Health Study (2010–12) including information on demographic, health and behavioural characteristics. Individuals with a BMI of ≥30 were included. A two-step cluster analysis was used to define groups of individuals who shared common characteristics.

Results The cluster analysis found six distinct groups of individuals whose BMI was ≥30. These subgroups were heavy drinking males, young healthy females; the affluent and healthy elderly; the physically sick but happy elderly; the unhappy and anxious middle aged and a cluster with the poorest health.

Conclusions It is important to account for the important heterogeneity within individuals who are obese. Interventions introduced by clinicians and policymakers should not target obese individuals as a whole but tailor strategies depending upon the subgroups that individuals belong to.

Key words

• body mass index
 
• classification
 
• cluster analysis
 
• epidemiology
 
• obesity

• © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Faculty of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.