Health
Obesity costs tallied
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Feb. 9, 2004
Medical expenditures directly related to obesity will probably cost the United States $75 billion in 2003, according to the January issue of Obesity Research. More than half of this is paid through Medicare and Medicaid.
Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and RTI International, an independent research organization based in Research Triangle Park, N.C., used data from the 1998 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey and the National Health Interview Surveys from 1996 and 1997 to develop a prediction model for obesity-related expenses.
This model was combined with economic and demographic information to develop profiles for individual states as well as to develop the estimate for the whole country.
Public health officials found the report alarming because it documented not just the health effects of obesity but the economic ones as well.
"The long-term effects of obesity on our nation's health and on our economy should not be underestimated," said CDC director Julie Gerberding, MD, MPH.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2004/02/09/hlbf0209.htm.
