The Latin American Consortium of Studies in Obesity (LASO)

Authors: Bautista, L. E.¹; Casas, J. P.²; Herrera, V. M.¹; Miranda, J. J.²; Perel, P.²; Pichardo, R.³; González, A.³; Sanchez, J. R.⁴; Ferreccio, C.⁵; Aguilera, X.⁶; Silva, E.⁷; Oróstegui, M.⁸; Gómez, L. F.⁹; Chirinos, J. A.¹⁰; Medina-Lezama, J.¹¹; Pérez, C. M.¹²; Suárez, E.¹²; Ortiz, A. P.¹²; Rosero, L.¹³; Schapochnik, N.¹⁴; Ortiz, Z.¹⁵; Ferrante, D.¹⁶

Source: Obesity Reviews, Volume 10, Number 3, May 2009 , pp. 364-370(7)

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Abstract:

Summary

Current, high-quality data are needed to evaluate the health impact of the epidemic of obesity in Latin America. The Latin American Consortium of Studies of Obesity (LASO) has been established, with the objectives of (i) Accurately estimating the prevalence of obesity and its distribution by sociodemographic characteristics; (ii) Identifying ethnic, socioeconomic and behavioural determinants of obesity; (iii) Estimating the association between various anthropometric indicators or obesity and major cardiovascular risk factors and (iv) Quantifying the validity of standard definitions of the various indexes of obesity in Latin American population. To achieve these objectives, LASO makes use of individual data from existing studies. To date, the LASO consortium includes data from 11 studies from eight countries (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Peru, Puerto Rico and Venezuela), including a total of 32 462 subjects. This article describes the overall organization of LASO, the individual studies involved and the overall strategy for data analysis. LASO will foster the development of collaborative obesity research among Latin American investigators. More important, results from LASO will be instrumental to inform health policies aiming to curtail the epidemic of obesity in the region.

Keywords: Consortium; health surveys; Latin America; obesity; risk factors

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-789X.2009.00591.x

Affiliations: 1: Department of Population Health Sciences, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA; 2: Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK; 3: Instituto Dominicano de Cardiología, Santo Domingo, República Dominicana; 4: Centro Nacional de Alimentación y Nutrición, Instituto Nacional de Salud, Lima, Perú; 5: Departamento de Salud Pública, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile; 6: Ministerio de Salud de Chile, Santiago, Chile; 7: Instituto de Investigación y Estudios de Enfermedades Cardiovasculares, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad del Zulia, Maracaibo, Venezuela; 8: Cardiovascular Diseases Epidemiologic Observatory, Epidemiologic Research Center, Universidad Industrial de Santander, Bucaramanga, Colombia; 9: Health Division, Fundación FES Social, Bogotá, Colombia; 10: Division of Cardiology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Philadelphia VA Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA; 11: Santa Maria Catholic University and Santa Maria Research Institute, Arequipa, Perú; 12: Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Graduate School of Public Health, Medical Sciences Campus, University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico; 13: Universidad de Costa Rica, Centro Centroamericano de Población, San José, Costa Rica; 14: Ministerio de Salud de la Provincia de Tierra del Fuego, Ushuaia, Argentina; 15: Instituto de Investigaciones Epidemiológicas Academia Nacional de Medicina, Buenos Aires, Argentina; 16: Ministerio de Salud y Ambiente, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Publication date: 2009-05-01

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• By this author: Bautista, L. E. ;  Casas, J. P. ;  Herrera, V. M. ;  Miranda, J. J. ;  Perel, P. ;  Pichardo, R. ;  González, A. ;  Sanchez, J. R. ;  Ferreccio, C. ;  Aguilera, X. ;  Silva, E. ;  Oróstegui, M. ;  Gómez, L. F. ;  Chirinos, J. A. ;  Medina-Lezama, J. ;  Pérez, C. M. ;  Suárez, E. ;  Ortiz, A. P. ;  Rosero, L. ;  Schapochnik, N. ;  Ortiz, Z. ;  Ferrante, D.

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