Economic Burden of Obesity: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

Background: The rising prevalence of obesity represents an important public health issue. An assessment of its costs may be useful in providing recommendations for policy and decision makers. This systematic review aimed to assess the economic burden of obesity and to identify, measure and describe the different obesity-related diseases included in the selected studies. Methods: A systematic literature search of studies in the English language was carried out in Medline (PubMed) and Web of Science databases to select cost-of-illness studies calculating the cost of obesity in a study population aged ≥18 years with obesity, as defined by a body mass index of ≥30 kg/m², for the whole selected country. The time frame for the analysis was January 2011 to September 2016. Results: The included twenty three studies reported a substantial economic burden of obesity in both developed and developing countries. There was considerable heterogeneity in methodological approaches, target populations, study time frames, and perspectives. This prevents an informative comparison between most of the studies. Specifically, there was great variety in the included obesity-related diseases and complications among the studies. Conclusions: There is an urgent need for public health measures to prevent obesity in order to save societal resources. Moreover, international consensus is required on standardized methods to calculate the cost of obesity to improve homogeneity and comparability. This aspect should also be considered when including obesity-related diseases.

Dynamics of Implementation and Maintenance of Organizational Health Interventions

“…Overall health expenditures in the U.S. from 2009 to 2012 were 17.7% of the GDP, the highest rate among 221 countries and more than twice the average for all countries (6.9%) [6]. The economic impacts associated with the obesity epidemic include medical, productivity, transportation, and human capital costs, which makes obesity-linked costs a noticeable portion of total national health expenditures [7,8].…”

Factores relacionados al sobrepeso y obesidad en pacientes atendidos en la Unidad de Medicina Complementaria del Hospital II Vitarte.

“…Sin embargo, la adherencia a estos tratamientos depende de la interacción de muchas condiciones; por ejemplo: la motivación del paciente, el tiempo disponible, la presión social, limitaciones físicas, pensamientos negativos, falta de información, la edad, el sexo, entre otros (10) . Así también, el tratamiento de la obesidad produce un impacto económico importante (11) que ha sido reportado entre 200 y 800 millones de dólares anuales en países latinoamericanos como Brasil (12) y México (13) , respectivamente.…”

Summary of Bariatric Surgery Guideline of the Society of Endocrinology and Metabolism of Turkey

“…Obesity also poses severe economic impact (4,5). The cost of obesity complications and their treatment in the United States is roughly 200 billion US dollars, which accounted for over 20% of the US's entire healthcare spending in 2005 (6).…”

“…The cost of obesity complications and their treatment in the United States is roughly 200 billion US dollars, which accounted for over 20% of the US's entire healthcare spending in 2005 (6). The global economic impact of obesity was determined to be 2.0 trillion dollars in 2014 (5). Many studies have shown that weight loss reduces the risk of developing complications and may also improve the established conditions (7).…”