Mathematical modeling and optimal control strategy for the obesity epidemic

Abstract

The aim of this work is to propose a discrete mathematical model to study the behavioral dynamics of a population affected by the disease of obesity. Thus, the population under study is divided into six compartments: susceptible (S), exposed (E), slightly obese (I1), moderately obese (I2), very obese (I3), and recovered (R). To fight this disease, we used four controls: Awareness through education and media, food and sports programs, medical treatment with drugs, and treatment with surgical intervention. The discrete time Pontryagin maximum principle is used to characterize the optimal controls. The numerical simulation via MATLAB confirms the performance of theoretical results.