Lifetime costs of overweight and obesity in Italy.

Publisher: Elsevier Science Country of Publication: Netherlands NLM ID: 101166135 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1873-6130 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 1570677X NLM ISO Abbreviation: Econ Hum Biol Subsets: MEDLINE

Original Publication: Amsterdam ; New York : Elsevier Science, c2003-

Obesity*/epidemiology ; Obesity*/economics ; Overweight*/epidemiology ; Overweight*/economics ; Body Mass Index*; Humans ; Italy/epidemiology ; Middle Aged ; Female ; Male ; Adult ; Aged ; Young Adult ; Adolescent ; Longitudinal Studies ; Cost of Illness ; Child ; Health Expenditures/statistics & numerical data ; Primary Health Care/economics

We use longitudinal electronic clinical data on a large representative sample of the Italian population to estimate the lifetime profile costs of different BMI classes - normal weight, overweight, and obese (I, II, and III) - in a primary care setting. Our research reveals that obese patients generate the highest cost differential throughout their lives compared to normal weight patients. Moreover, we show that overweight individuals spend less than those with normal weight, primarily due to reduced expenditures beginning in early middle age. Our estimates could serve as a vital benchmark for policymakers looking to prioritize public interventions that address the obesity pandemic while considering the increasing obesity rates projected by the OECD until 2030.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Keywords: BMI; Italy; Lifetime expenditures; Obesity; Primary care

Date Created: 20240214 Date Completed: 20240424 Latest Revision: 20240424

20240425

10.1016/j.ehb.2024.101366

38354596