WASHINGTON — The health cost of obesity in the United States jumped over the past decade, from $74 billion in 1998 to approximately $147 billion today, based on data from a study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Research Triangle Institute. The data were presented at the CDC's inaugural Weight of the Nation conference on obesity.
“Obesity affects every body system,” Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, director of the CDC, said during opening remarks at the conference.
Obesity accounted for 6.5% of overall annual medical costs in the United States in 1998, but that proportion increased to 9.1% by 2006, said the study's lead author, Eric Finkelstein, Ph.D., of the independent Research Triangle Institute.
The annual cost of medical care per adult in the United States is 41% less for a normal-weight individual than for an obese individual, Dr. Finkelstein said. In this study, obesity was defined as a body mass index of 30 kg/m
If the obesity prevalence had remained the same between 1998 and 2006, 2006 medical costs in the United States would have been approximately $40 billion less, Dr. Finkelstein emphasized.
The study results were limited by the reliance on self-reports of body mass index, Dr. Finkelstein noted. The study examined only aggregate health costs and did not look at disease-specific costs, but “diabetes is one of the largest drivers of health care costs,” he said.
At a media briefing, Dr. Frieden said that the most effective strategies to reduce obesity may involve community intervention rather than clinical intervention. But physicians have a responsibility to encourage patients' weight-loss efforts in a clinical practice setting, he added.
The study was sponsored in part by the CDC.
To watch a video interview of Dr. Finkelstein, go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwyTYVrnJjw