Cost of health care. The additional cost of obesity to the health service and the potential for resource savings from effective interventions

Bagust, A; Roberts, Bethan; Haycox, Alan; Barrow, Steve

doi:10.1093/eurpub/9.4.258

Cited by 17 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Bagust et al. (10) combined obesity prevalence data with resource usage information from Hospital Episode statistics for the North‐west of England to estimate the proportion of excess patient costs attributable to obesity. Obesity prevalence data from the Health Survey for England was applied to cost data to estimate the proportion of in‐patient resource usage which may be attributed to patients above a given BMI threshold.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The burden of overweight and obesity‐related ill health in the UK

Allender¹,

Rayner²

2007

Obesity Reviews

153

111

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This paper reviews previous cost studies of overweight and obesity in the UK. It proposes a method for estimating the economic and health costs of overweight and obesity in the UK which could also be used in other countries. Costs of obesity studies were identified via a systematic search of electronic databases. Information from the WHO Burden of Disease Project was used to calculate the mortality and morbidity cost of overweight and obesity. Population attributable fractions for diseases attributable to overweight and obesity were applied to National Health Service (NHS) cost data to estimate direct financial costs. We estimate the direct cost of overweight and obesity to the NHS at pound 3.2 billion. Other estimates of the cost of obesity range between pound 480 million in 1998 and pound 1.1 billion in 2004 [Correction added after online publication 11 June 2007: 'of the cost of obesity' added after 'Other estimates']. There is wide variation in methods and estimates for the cost of overweight and obesity to the health systems of developed countries. The method presented here could be used to calculate the costs of overweight and obesity in other countries. Public health initiatives are required to address the increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity and reduce associated healthcare costs.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The burden of overweight and obesity‐related ill health in the UK

Allender¹,

Rayner²

2007

Obesity Reviews

153

111

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“…Estimates from the 1990 suggested that in the US between 4.3% [18] to 7.8% [19] of total healthcare expenditure could be attributed to obesity. Early studies from other jurisdictions include Australia [20], New Zealand [21], Canada [11], France [12,22], The Netherlands [23] and the UK [24]. Direct healthcare costs were the main focus of many of these studies [11,20-24], mainly using the top down approach [11,12,20,21,23] and most focussed only on obesity [11,12,20-22,24].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The direct and indirect costs of both overweight and obesity: a systematic review

et al. 2014

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BackgroundThe rising prevalence of overweight and obesity places a financial burden on health services and on the wider economy. Health service and societal costs of overweight and obesity are typically estimated by top-down approaches which derive population attributable fractions for a range of conditions associated with increased body fat or bottom-up methods based on analyses of cross-sectional or longitudinal datasets. The evidence base of cost of obesity studies is continually expanding, however, the scope of these studies varies widely and a lack of standardised methods limits comparisons nationally and internationally. The objective of this review is to contribute to this knowledge pool by examining direct costs and indirect (lost productivity) costs of both overweight and obesity to provide comparable estimates. This review was undertaken as part of the introductory work for the Irish cost of overweight and obesity study and examines inconsistencies in the methodologies of cost of overweight and obesity studies. Studies which evaluated the direct costs and indirect costs of both overweight and obesity were included.MethodsA computerised search of English language studies addressing direct and indirect costs of overweight and obesity in adults between 2001 and 2011 was conducted. Reference lists of reports, articles and earlier reviews were scanned to identify additional studies.ResultsFive published articles were deemed eligible for inclusion. Despite the limited scope of this review there was considerable heterogeneity in methodological approaches and findings. In the four studies which presented separate estimates for direct and indirect costs of overweight and obesity, the indirect costs were higher, accounting for between 54% and 59% of the estimated total costs.ConclusionA gradient exists between increasing BMI and direct healthcare costs and indirect costs due to reduced productivity and early premature mortality. Determining precise estimates for the increases is mired by the large presence of heterogeneity among the available cost estimation literature. To improve the availability of quality evidence an international consensus on standardised methods for cost of obesity studies is warranted. Analyses of nationally representative cross-sectional datasets augmented by data from primary care are likely to provide the best data for international comparisons.

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“…weight (kg)/(height (m)) 2 -greater than 30 kg/m 2 ) [5] is directly related with some chronic diseases, in particular cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases; non-insulin dependent diabetes; hypertension; and dyslipidaemia [6]. It is therefore possible that, once controlled for age and gender, a different level of obesity (normal weight 18.5 kg/m 2 5BMI 25 kg/m 2 ; overweight, 25 kg/m reasons for a consultation?…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is widely known that obesity (defined as having a body mass index, BMI -i.e. weight (kg)/(height (m)) 2 -greater than 30 kg/m 2 ) [5] is directly related with some chronic diseases, in particular cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases; non-insulin dependent diabetes; hypertension; and dyslipidaemia [6]. It is therefore possible that, once controlled for age and gender, a different level of obesity (normal weight 18.5 kg/m 2 5BMI 25 kg/m 2 ; overweight, 25 kg/m 2 5 BMI 30 kg/m 2 ; and obese) could correspond to a different risk group and, therefore, to a distinct use of primary health care utilisation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Use of primary health care services according to the different degrees of obesity in the Girona Health Region, Spain

et al. 2005

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Our main hypothesis in this paper was that, once controlled for age and gender, the use of primary health care services of people in each of the groups defined by their degree of obesity (i.e. normal weight, overweight and obese) did not correspond to the need for care implied by the level of risk of the group he/she belonged to. This fact could reflect some inequity in the utilisation of such services. Using a survey of the general population from the Girona Health Region, Spain, carried out during the fourth quarter of 2002, we have found that: first, the probability of primary health care use decreased with income for GPs (until 1200 Euro) and increased for specialists (from 1500 Euro). Second, we could conclude by confirming our hypothesis, i.e. there was more probability of obese individuals using general practice care, public in particular, and less probability of them using specialists, private in particular, than the rest of individuals. Third, we conclude that the use of multilevel (also hierarchical or mixed) models could explain most of our original findings in this paper.

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Cost of health care. The additional cost of obesity to the health service and the potential for resource savings from effective interventions

Cited by 17 publications

References 6 publications

The burden of overweight and obesity‐related ill health in the UK

The burden of overweight and obesity‐related ill health in the UK

The direct and indirect costs of both overweight and obesity: a systematic review

Use of primary health care services according to the different degrees of obesity in the Girona Health Region, Spain

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