Multivariate Granger Causality Analysis of Obesity Related Variables

Obesity is a complex health outcome that is a combination of multiple health indicators. Here we attempt to explore the dependence network among multiple aspects of obesity. Two longitudinal cohort studies across multiple decades have been used. The concept of causality is defined similar to Granger causality among multiple time series, however, modified to accommodate multivariate time series as the nodes of the network. Our analysis reveals relatively central position of physical measurements and blood chemistry measures in the overall network across both genders. Also there are some patterns specific to only male or female population. The geometry of the causality network is expected to help in our strategy to control the increasing trend of obesity rate.