OBESI-NET: an Italian network proposal for AI-supported obesity monitoring and precision medicine.
7 affiliations
- 1Department of Engineering, University of Palermo, v.le delle Scienze, 90128, Palermo, Italy. [email protected].
- 2Artificial Intelligence Center, IRCCS Humanitas Research Hospital, via Manzoni 56, 20089, Rozzano, Milano, Italy.
- 3European Society for Artificial Intelligence in Health (ESAIH), via Canova 15, Lugano, Switzerland.
- 4Research Unit Preventive and Predictive Medicine, Bambin Gesù Children's Hospital-IRCCS, p.zza Sant'Onofrio 4, 00165, Rome, Italy.
- 5Department of Engineering, University of Palermo, v.le delle Scienze, 90128, Palermo, Italy.
- 6Department of Promozione della Salute, Materno-Infantile, Medicina Interna e Specialistica di Eccellenza (PROMISE) - Unit of Clinical Nutrition, Obesity and Metabolic Diseases, University Hospital Policlinico "P. Giaccone"-University of Palermo, p.zza delle cliniche, 2, 90127, Palermo, Italy. [email protected].
- 7Center for Metabolic Diseases and Nutrition, IRCCS Humanitas Research Hospital, via Manzoni 56, 20089, Rozzano, Milano, Italy.
Abstract
Obesity requires structured and coordinated surveillance, because clinical, anthropometric, behavioural, technological, and epidemiological information is often collected in fragmented systems. In Italy, data on obesity and its comorbidities are distributed across registries, observational studies, and local institutional initiatives. This fragmentation limits longitudinal monitoring, national comparability, and the development of data-driven tools for prevention, diagnosis, and clinical management. This paper presents the conceptual proposal of OBESI-NET (Osservatorio Basato su Ecosistema Sanitario Digitale di Intelligenza Artificiale per l'Obesità-NETwork Nazionale). OBESI-NET is proposed as a national software ecosystem intended to connect Italian Society of Obesity clinical centers, healthcare professionals, and artificial intelligence engineering groups. The proposed infrastructure would support the standardized collection, secure integration, and analysis of heterogeneous data. These data include clinical, behavioural, anthropometric, imaging, wearable sensor, and, in future developments, multi-omics data. The expected contribution of OBESI-NET is not the presentation of an already implemented system, but the definition of a national model for obesity-centerd digital surveillance and AI (Artificial Intelligence)-supported precision medicine. Compared with existing digital obesity projects and registries, the proposal emphasizes integration within routine clinical practice and coordination through SIO (Società italiana dell'Obesità) centers. It also emphasizes longitudinal real-world data collection, multimodal data integration, and privacy-preserving approaches, such as federated learning. If implemented and validated, OBESI-NET could provide a framework for epidemiological monitoring, clinical research, treatment stratification, and public health planning in obesity care.Level of Evidence: Level V, expert opinion and conceptual project proposal.
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BibTeX
@article{gambino2026obesinet,
title = {{OBESI-NET: an Italian network proposal for AI-supported obesity monitoring and precision medicine.}},
author = {Orazio Gambino and Victor Savesvki and Melania Manco and Saverio D'Amico and Marta Bianca Maria Ranzini and Salvatore Contino and Roberto Pirrone and Silvio Buscemi and Roberto Vettor},
journal = {Eating and weight disorders : EWD},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1007/s40519-026-01907-8},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42955159},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - OBESI-NET: an Italian network proposal for AI-supported obesity monitoring and precision medicine.
AU - Orazio Gambino
AU - Victor Savesvki
AU - Melania Manco
AU - Saverio D'Amico
AU - Marta Bianca Maria Ranzini
AU - Salvatore Contino
AU - Roberto Pirrone
AU - Silvio Buscemi
AU - Roberto Vettor
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/28
JO - Eating and weight disorders : EWD
DO - 10.1007/s40519-026-01907-8
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42955159
AB - Obesity requires structured and coordinated surveillance, because clinical, anthropometric, behavioural, technological, and epidemiological information is often collected in fragmented systems. In Italy, data on obesity and its comorbidities are distributed across registries, observational studies, and local institutional initiatives. This fragmentation limits longitudinal monitoring, national comparability, and the development of data-driven tools for prevention, diagnosis, and clinical management. This paper presents the conceptual proposal of OBESI-NET (Osservatorio Basato su Ecosistema Sanitario Digitale di Intelligenza Artificiale per l'Obesità-NETwork Nazionale). OBESI-NET is proposed as a national software ecosystem intended to connect Italian Society of Obesity clinical centers, healthcare professionals, and artificial intelligence engineering groups. The proposed infrastructure would support the standardized collection, secure integration, and analysis of heterogeneous data. These data include clinical, behavioural, anthropometric, imaging, wearable sensor, and, in future developments, multi-omics data. The expected contribution of OBESI-NET is not the presentation of an already implemented system, but the definition of a national model for obesity-centerd digital surveillance and AI (Artificial Intelligence)-supported precision medicine. Compared with existing digital obesity projects and registries, the proposal emphasizes integration within routine clinical practice and coordination through SIO (Società italiana dell'Obesità) centers. It also emphasizes longitudinal real-world data collection, multimodal data integration, and privacy-preserving approaches, such as federated learning. If implemented and validated, OBESI-NET could provide a framework for epidemiological monitoring, clinical research, treatment stratification, and public health planning in obesity care.Level of Evidence: Level V, expert opinion and conceptual project proposal.
SN - 1124-4909
SN - 1590-1262
ER -