Obesity Increases Health Care Costs, According To Latest Research

Studies Show Excess Weight Increases Prescription Drugs, Use of Outpatient Services and Inpatient Care

Charleston, SC – November 17, 1999 Health care costs are much higher for people who are obese, according to new research presented today at the annual meeting of the North American Association for the Study of Obesity (NAASO). Three separate studies by an economic health research group as well as several health maintenance organizations (HMOs) found significant increases in medical costs for obese patients, and cost savings for people utilizing weight management programs.

The first study by David Thompson, Ph.D., and colleagues at Policy Analysis Inc. in Brookline, Mass. and Kaiser Permanente Northwest Division in Portland, Oregon, suggests that body mass index (BMI)—a measurement based on height and weight that is highly correlated with body fat—is an important predictor of future medical care costs. People with a BMI of 30 or more are considered obese. In a survey of more than 1,000 members, costs of prescription drugs, outpatient services and inpatient care were calculated over an eight-year period. The investigators found that annual medical care costs for overweight individuals was 10 percent higher and for obese people, it was 36 percent higher than persons with a normal weight.

A separate study by Joseph Berkson, M.D., and colleagues at Washington State HMO, Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound, discovered that participation in a weight management program resulted in a reduction in health care costs of $1,648 annually. They compared the total medical costs of members participating in a very-low-calorie diet program with those of a control group. During the third year of the study, health care costs of the control group increased beyond those of the diet group and remained higher during the seven-year study period.

A third study by Bette Caan, Dr.PH, and colleagues with the Kaiser Permanente Medical Program of Northern California and Roche Laboratories, Inc., of Nutley, N.J., examined drugs prescribed for specific diseases associated with obesity such as diabetes type II or hypertension and whether costs for those drugs were higher for obese patients. Costs of prescription drugs increased for patients as their BMI increased in 10 out of 16 categories of drugs. The cost of drugs for patients who were severely obese (more than 60 lbs overweight) was approximately twice the amount of those with normal body weight. The greatest increases were for drugs used to treat hypertension, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. In addition, increases were noted for analgesics, antidepressants and respiratory and ulcer medications. The study concluded that while obese persons use more drugs in managing many of the comorbidities known to be associated with obesity, there are also increased costs for some conditions not commonly associated with obesity.

"As these studies reveal, the costs of obesity are alarming and they will continue to grow as the epidemic grows," said Charles Billington, M.D., vice president of NAASO and professor in the Department of Medicine at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center. "Therefore, obesity is not only responsible for causing serious health problems but is also a considerable financial burdens on patients and society."