O’Hara, R., Stephenson, J., Goyder, E. et al. (2 more authors) (2025) Understanding overweight and obesity subgroups: a cluster analysis of data from the UK Yorkshire Health Study. BMC Public Health, 25 (1). 3234. ISSN: 1471-2458
Abstract
Background
Individuals with overweight/obesity are a heterogeneous population and a better understanding of factors differentiating subgroups can help deliver more targeted weight management interventions that benefit everyone equally. Previous research employed cluster analysis to understand heterogeneity within a population with obesity in one region of England, using the Yorkshire Health Study (YHS) dataset. The aim of this study is to build on that research and contribute a more detailed understanding of subgroups to support more tailored weight management strategies.
Methods
The study entailed using cluster analysis methods to identify a number of discrete subgroups characterised by demographic, health and lifestyle commonalities, using a larger Yorkshire Health Study (YHS) dataset (n = 47,080) and broader range of weight categories (healthy weight, overweight and obesity). Clustering involved using the k-prototypes method for mixed data types and the optimum number of clusters was determined by identifying the point of inflexion (elbow) on the scree plot.
Results
Six-clusters were identified as the optimum overall solution, which comprised six distinct subgroups differentiated by a range of variables related to weight status: younger, healthy, active, heavy drinking males; older with poor physical health, but good quality of life; older with poor health, quality of life and well-being; older, ex-smokers with poor health but high well-being; younger, healthy and active females; and younger with poor mental health and well-being.
Conclusions
The findings contribute additional insight on differences between specific population groups in relation to key determinants of weight. This understanding should ensure that within an overall systems based approach to tackling this major public health issue, there is adequate attention to delivering more tailored weight management strategies for different groups.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2025. Open Access: This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
Keywords: | Weight status; Overweight; Obesity; Body mass index; Classification; Cluster analysis; Yorkshire Health Study |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health (Sheffield) > School of Medicine and Population Health |
Date Deposited: | 06 Oct 2025 11:06 |
Last Modified: | 06 Oct 2025 11:06 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1186/s12889-025-24152-7 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:232567 |