Driver Agent Review

Abstract

Recent studies have shown that the obesity problem is part of a worldwide syndemic. It refers to co-occurring, interdependent pandemics such as undernutrition, global obesity and climate changes, each of which are driven primarily by the same social forces. Systems science modeling may provide insight into how these common drivers work and what the best methods to deal with them. This paper explored the potential for system dynamic and agent-based models to help us understand the driving forces of global obesity. Scopus and Web of Science databases retrieved peer-reviewed articles published before July 2018, which were then indexed in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, or Scopus. Threety-eight studies, representing 30 computational model types were included. They show a growing use of system dynamics and agent-based modeling in the past decade. The most common areas they examined were the social networks-based factors on obesity and diseases state mechanics. They also looked at the roles of food and exercise environments. Common drivers of global syndemics were not always useful. Many models used Western contexts, focused mostly on people close to them (eg social circles schools and neighborhoods) and omitted models at both the macro- and mesolevel.

Keywords: agent-based modeling; global syndemic; obesity; system dynamics; systematic review.

.Driver Agent Review