Measuring the full economic costs of diet, physical activity and obesity-related chronic diseases

doi:10.1111/j.1467-789X.2006.00230.x

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Wiley InterScience

Obesity Reviews

Volume 7 Issue 3, Pages 271 - 293

Published Online: 17 Jul 2006

An Official Journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity

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Measuring the full economic costs of diet, physical activity and obesity-related chronic diseases

B. M. Popkin ¹ , S. Kim ² , E. R. Rusev ³ , S. Du ⁴ and C. Zizza ⁵

¹ Department of Nutrition, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, ² Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of California at San Francisco, CA, ³ Economics Department, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, ⁴ Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, ⁵ Department of Nutrition and Food Science, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA

Correspondence to BM Popkin, Professor of Nutrition, Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina, 123 W. Franklin St., Chapel Hill, NC 27516-3997, USA. E-mail: popkin@unc.edu

KEYWORDS

Economic costs • obesity • obesity-related diets and activity patterns

Summary

Review of the effects of diet, physical activity and obesity-related conditions on the risk of non-communicable disease

Review of the effects on morality, disability and sickness absenteeism

Most studies that have focused on the costs of obesity have ignored the direct effects of obesity-related patterns of diet and physical activity. This study reviews the full effects of each component – poor dietary and physical activity patterns and obesity – on morbidity, mortality and productivity. The direct healthcare costs are based on a review of the effects of these factors on key diseases and the related medical care costs of each disease. The indirect costs on reduced disability, mortality and sickness during the period of active labour force participation prior to retirement are also examined. A case study is prepared for China to provide some guidance in the utilization of this review for economic analysis of obesity. The case study shows that the indirect costs are often far more important than the direct medical care costs. The Chinese case study found that the indirect effects of obesity and obesity-related dietary and physical activity patterns range between 3.58% and 8.73% of gross national product (GNP) in 2000 and 2025 respectively.

Received 28 April 2005; revised 1 September 2005; accepted 5 September 2005

DIGITAL OBJECT IDENTIFIER (DOI)

10.1111/j.1467-789X.2006.00230.x About DOI