Research Article

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND MACHINE LEARNING IN HEALTHCARE: A REGION FIXED-EFFECTS APPROACH TO THE GLOBAL HEALTH IMPACT OF OBESITY AND ITS NEAR-TERM FORECASTING

Volume: 8 Number: 2 August 1, 2026
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ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND MACHINE LEARNING IN HEALTHCARE: A REGION FIXED-EFFECTS APPROACH TO THE GLOBAL HEALTH IMPACT OF OBESITY AND ITS NEAR-TERM FORECASTING

Abstract

This study examines the global health impact of obesity at the World Health Organization (WHO) regional level and generates near-term forecasts of adult obesity prevalence for 2020–2022 using a region fixed-effects multiple linear regression model on a regional-year panel. Region-year observations (n = 60) for the six WHO regions were retrieved automatically from the WHO Global Health Observatory OData API for 2010–2019 via a Python 3.11 script. A two-stage strategy was applied: four predictors (overweight, underweight, physical inactivity, raised blood pressure) were projected to 2020–2022 by simple linear regression; obesity prevalence was then modeled with region fixed-effects multiple linear regression. Out-of-sample accuracy was assessed through a time-ordered backtest (training: 2010–2017; test: 2018–2019). The model achieved R² = 0.9989 and a backtest mean absolute percentage error of 4.02%. Overweight (β = +0.7385), underweight (β = +0.8094), and physical inactivity (β = +0.2232) showed significant positive associations with obesity (all p < 0.01). Forecast 2022 prevalences were 32.96% (Americas), 27.94% (Eastern Mediterranean), 22.13% (Europe), 11.23% (Africa), 9.66% (Western Pacific), and 7.53% (South-East Asia). Region fixed-effects panel regression delivers high accuracy and interpretability for near-term obesity forecasting and yields region-specific insights translatable into policy under the 6P framework.

Keywords

Supporting Institution

This research received no external funding.

Ethical Statement

This study used publicly available, fully anonymized aggregated data obtained from the World Health Organization Global Health Observatory. Therefore, no ethical approval or informed consent was required.

Thanks

The authors would like to thank the World Health Organization for providing open access to the Global Health Observatory data.

References

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Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

Health Management

Journal Section

Research Article

Publication Date

August 1, 2026

Submission Date

April 29, 2026

Acceptance Date

May 15, 2026

Published in Issue

Year 2026 Volume: 8 Number: 2

APA
Ergen, O. G., Görgülü, M., & Oktay, İ. (2026). ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND MACHINE LEARNING IN HEALTHCARE: A REGION FIXED-EFFECTS APPROACH TO THE GLOBAL HEALTH IMPACT OF OBESITY AND ITS NEAR-TERM FORECASTING. Aurum Journal of Health Sciences, 8(2), 19-30. https://izlik.org/JA48NK93TA
AMA
1.Ergen OG, Görgülü M, Oktay İ. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND MACHINE LEARNING IN HEALTHCARE: A REGION FIXED-EFFECTS APPROACH TO THE GLOBAL HEALTH IMPACT OF OBESITY AND ITS NEAR-TERM FORECASTING. AJHS-A. J. Health. Sci. 2026;8(2):19-30. https://izlik.org/JA48NK93TA
Chicago
Ergen, Onur Gürcan, Mehmet Görgülü, and İnci Oktay. 2026. “ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND MACHINE LEARNING IN HEALTHCARE: A REGION FIXED-EFFECTS APPROACH TO THE GLOBAL HEALTH IMPACT OF OBESITY AND ITS NEAR-TERM FORECASTING”. Aurum Journal of Health Sciences 8 (2): 19-30. https://izlik.org/JA48NK93TA.
EndNote
Ergen OG, Görgülü M, Oktay İ (August 1, 2026) ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND MACHINE LEARNING IN HEALTHCARE: A REGION FIXED-EFFECTS APPROACH TO THE GLOBAL HEALTH IMPACT OF OBESITY AND ITS NEAR-TERM FORECASTING. Aurum Journal of Health Sciences 8 2 19–30.
IEEE
[1]O. G. Ergen, M. Görgülü, and İ. Oktay, “ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND MACHINE LEARNING IN HEALTHCARE: A REGION FIXED-EFFECTS APPROACH TO THE GLOBAL HEALTH IMPACT OF OBESITY AND ITS NEAR-TERM FORECASTING”, AJHS-A. J. Health. Sci., vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 19–30, Aug. 2026, [Online]. Available: https://izlik.org/JA48NK93TA
ISNAD
Ergen, Onur Gürcan - Görgülü, Mehmet - Oktay, İnci. “ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND MACHINE LEARNING IN HEALTHCARE: A REGION FIXED-EFFECTS APPROACH TO THE GLOBAL HEALTH IMPACT OF OBESITY AND ITS NEAR-TERM FORECASTING”. Aurum Journal of Health Sciences 8/2 (August 1, 2026): 19-30. https://izlik.org/JA48NK93TA.
JAMA
1.Ergen OG, Görgülü M, Oktay İ. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND MACHINE LEARNING IN HEALTHCARE: A REGION FIXED-EFFECTS APPROACH TO THE GLOBAL HEALTH IMPACT OF OBESITY AND ITS NEAR-TERM FORECASTING. AJHS-A. J. Health. Sci. 2026;8:19–30.
MLA
Ergen, Onur Gürcan, et al. “ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND MACHINE LEARNING IN HEALTHCARE: A REGION FIXED-EFFECTS APPROACH TO THE GLOBAL HEALTH IMPACT OF OBESITY AND ITS NEAR-TERM FORECASTING”. Aurum Journal of Health Sciences, vol. 8, no. 2, Aug. 2026, pp. 19-30, https://izlik.org/JA48NK93TA.
Vancouver
1.Onur Gürcan Ergen, Mehmet Görgülü, İnci Oktay. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND MACHINE LEARNING IN HEALTHCARE: A REGION FIXED-EFFECTS APPROACH TO THE GLOBAL HEALTH IMPACT OF OBESITY AND ITS NEAR-TERM FORECASTING. AJHS-A. J. Health. Sci. [Internet]. 2026 Aug. 1;8(2):19-30. Available from: https://izlik.org/JA48NK93TA