Abstract
The global prevalence of obesity presents a pressing challenge to public health and healthcare systems, necessitating accurate prediction and understanding for effective prevention and management strategies. This article addresses the need for improved obesity prediction models by conducting a comprehensive analysis of existing machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) approaches. This study introduces a novel hybrid model, Attention-based Bi-LSTM (ABi-LSTM), which integrates attention mechanisms with bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory (Bi-LSTM) networks to enhance interpretability and performance in obesity prediction. Our study fills a crucial gap by bridging healthcare and urban planning domains, offering insights into data-driven approaches to promote healthier living within urban environments. The proposed ABi-LSTM model demonstrates exceptional performance, achieving a remarkable accuracy of 96.5% in predicting obesity levels. Comparative analysis showcases its superiority over conventional approaches, with superior precision, recall, and overall classification balance. This study highlights significant advancements in predictive accuracy and positions the ABi-LSTM model as a pioneering solution for accurate obesity prognosis. The implications extend beyond healthcare, offering a precise tool to address the global obesity epidemic and foster sustainable development in smart cities.