Economic burden of obesity: a systematic literature review

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.(AU)

The Prevalence of Childhood Obesity, Risk Factors, and Obesity Related Disease in Elementary Students

BACKGROUND: Recently, childhood obesity has been increased and has resulted in serious health problems. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of childhood obesity and its risk factors in elementary students. METHODS: One thousand nine hundred and eleven children were selected from an elementary school in Seoul. We measured children's height, weight, waist to hip ratio, and the obesity rate (%). The risk factors associated with childhood obesity were assessed by a self-written questionnaire answered by their parents. In moderate and severe obese children, we checked their blood pressure, fasting blood glucose, ALT, AST, uric acid, total cholesterol, and triglycerides. RESULTS: The prevalence of childhood obesity was 14.0%. We found that the factors associated with childhood obesity were the number of siblings, class, parent's obesity, and the preference for fish and meat (P=0.030, 0.022, <0.001, 0.003, respectively). In moderate and severe obese children, the prevalence of obesity related diseases was 77.6% and 92.3%, respectively. CONCLUSION: The childhood obesity was strongly associated with parent's obesity and the preference for fish and meat. The prevalence of obesity related diseases was very high in moderate and severe obese children.

Socioeconomic Costs of Obesity for Korean Adults / 예방의학회지

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the socioeconomic costs of obesity in Korea, 1998. METHODS: The 1998 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1998 NHNES) data was used and 10,880 persons who had taken health examinations were selected for study. Essential hypertension, NIDDM (non insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus), dyslipidemia, osteoarthritis, coronary heart disease, stroke were included as obesity related disease. The data of direct costs of obesity was obtained from the National Federation of Medical Insurance. The category of indirect costs was the loss of productivity caused by premature death and admission, time costs, traffic costs, nursing fees due to obesity. Multiple logistic regression model was developed to estimate prevalence odds ratio by obesity class adjusted demographic and socio-ecnomic factors and calculate PAF (Population Attributable Fraction) of obesity on obesity related disease. And we finally calculated the socioeconomic costs of obesity in relation to BMI with PAF. RESULTS: The direct costs of obesity were 2,126 billion~965 billion Won in considering out of pocket payment to uninsured services, and the indirect costs of obesity were 2,099 billion~1,086 billion Won. Consequently, in considering out of pocket payment to uninsured services, the socioeconomic costs of obesity were 4,225 billion~2,050 billion Won, which corresponded to about 0.094% ~0.046% of GDP and 1.88%~0.91 of total health care costs in Korea. CONCLUSIONS: Obesity represents a major health problem with significant economic implications for the society. This results are conservative estimates as far as all obesity related disease and all health care and indirect costs were not included due to missing information. Further studies are needed to caculate socioeconomic costs of obesity more exactly.

Increasing Prevalence of Obesity Related Disease for Koreans Associated with Overweight and Obesity / 예방의학회지

OBJECTIVE: To develop a better understanding of the relationship between weight status and the prevalence of obesity related diseases in the Korean population. METHODS: The 1998 Korean National Health and Nutrition Survey was used and 10,880 persons who had previously taken health examinations were selected for study. The Korean Society for the Study of Obesity's classification of weight status was used. Hypertension, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, osteoarthritis, chronic heart disease, stroke were included as obesity related disease. A logistic regression model was developed to estimate the prevalence odds ratio by obesity class adjusted for demographic and socio-economic factors and we converted the odds ratio to a prevalence ratio using the base line prevalence of disease to aid in the interpretation of the ratios. RESULTS: The prevalence of obesity was 26.3% based on the KSSO classification (BMI> or =25). A graded increase in the prevalence ratio was observed with increasing severity of overweight and obesity for all health outcomes with the exception of chronic heart disease in men and stroke in both men and women. With normal weight individuals as the reference, for men who were younger than 50 years, the prevalence ratios were highest for hypertension BMI or =30: 4.83(95% CI=3.78-5.84). The prevalence ratios for dyslipidemia were as high as hypertension, but were lower than hypertension for diabetes mellitus and osteoarthritis. Prevalence ratios generally were greater in younger adults. The prevalence of having 2 or more obesity related diseases increased with weight status category, except in people who were older than 50 years. CONCLUSIONS: Based on results, obesity is an increasingly important health problem in Korea and the disease burden increases according to weight status. For Korean adults, the strongest relationship was seen between weight status and hypertension and dyslipidemia. In older people the impact of excess weight and obesity is stronger than that seen in younger people. Increased efforts in the study of obesity and prevention and treatment of obesity and obesity related disease are required.