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The Growing Cost of Obesity, Some Hefty Statistics

"America's obesity epidemic is a weapon of mass destruction destined to cause another financial crisis,"  according to Stanley Feld, MD, MACE, on his blog "Repairing the Health Care System.  If the epidemic is not stopped, he writes, "an increase in the complications of chronic disease can cause another economic meltdown."

Obesity by the Numbers

Half of the U.S. population may be obese by the year 2030 with related care spending as much as $956.9 billion, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins University, the University of Pennsylvania and the Agency or Health Care Research.

• In the past 20 years, the percentage of obese Americans has gone from 15 to 34% (adults), and 5 to 17% (children).
• By 2020, the obese (Body Mass Index of 30 or more), plus the overweight (BMI of 25 to 30) may reach 74 or 75%.  These rates could be higher because people may understate their weights in telephone studies.
• Of 34 industrialized nations, we are the second fattest (Mexico is number one).  Our children, however, are the fattest out of 40 nations surveyed, according to a survey by the Organization of Economic Co-operation.

"Obesity is the fastest growing health challenge the nation has ever faced," according to Kenneth E. Thorpe, PhD., Chairman of the Health Policy and Management Department at Emory University.  He also has stated that it is a leading driver of rising health care costs.

How We Got Here

•  Change of eating habits since the 1950's and 1960's.  Americans now consume an average of 500 calories more per day than they did back then.  Taking a half hour walk only burns about 60 calories.
• The explosion of fast food vendors, many with meals of well over 1000 calories.
• The mass popularity of snack foods.
• Our sedentary life styles, especially harmful to our children, whose obesity rate has tripled in 20 years.
• Other factors factors include food industry advertisements, lack of physical education in many schools, lack of access to nutritious foods in some urban areas, dependence on low quality, starchy foods for economic reasons, and others.

Once a person reaches a certain weight, it is very difficult to reduce, although not impossible.  People tend to keep on gaining, not losing or staying the same.

Health Risks of the Overweight and Obese

Obesity and overweight are risk factors in many diseases.  They have been linked to diabetes, high blood pressure, arthritis and have also been linked to cancers of the colon, prostate, endometrium, bladder, kidney, and gall bladder, as well as asthma and sleep apnea.

Here are some statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):

• The overweight person (BMI 25-30) has a 60% higher chance of developing Type 2 diabetes than a person of normal weight, 80% higher for high blood pressure, and 40% higher for arthritis.
• In the obese person (BMI 30-40), the risk is 240% higher for diabetes, 250% higher for high blood pressure and 100% higher for arthritis.
• In the morbidly obese (BMI 40 and over), the increased risk is 740% for diabetes, 640% for high blood pressure, and 440% for arthritis.

If you are diabetic at age 40, your expected average life span is 62.6 years for men, and 65.5 years for women.  The average life span for American men is 74.4 and 79.8 for women, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association.



The Cost to the Individual

In 2018, it is estimated that the obese person will spend an average of $8315 on medical bills compared to $5855 for the person of average weight, a difference of $2460.  This does not include the time and salary lost from work due to obesity-related illness.  The obese also lose work time because they are more susceptible to non-obesity related illness, such as colds.  There are also the costs of non-medical items, such as clothing in extra-large sizes, furniture, and other related adaptations.  And, of course, there are the long-range complications of illnesses such as diabetes, which may result in amputations, blindness, and heart disease.

Another cost to the individual is emotional.  A Gallup survey done in 2010 revealed that 23.2% of the obese have been diagnosed with depression, while the diagnosis rate for normal weight persons is 14.3%,

The Costs to the Country

"There is a tsunami of chronic preventable disease about to be unleashed into out medical-care system which is increasingly unaffordable," says Reed Tuckson of the United Health Foundation.

Why a "tsunami"?

• A massive rising number of the obese
• The increasing costs of medical care in general
• The increasing amount and costs of obesity-specific treatments, such as bariatric surgery
• A shifting of the population to an older demographic, due to baby boomers aging in great numbers, many of whom are obese
• The huge amount of obesity-related disease

In 2018, the cost of obesity on the national level will be four times as much as in 2009.  At the present time, health costs are 17% of the Gross National Product (GDP).  This may double in 15 years, which means one-third of every dollar spent would go to health care.  This is impossible to sustain.  Also to be considered are costs to businesses in absenteeism, disability, and lost productivity due to obesity-related disease.

In researching this article I could find few positive trends.  All of society needs to be educated on the subject.  Not just kids, but parents, school systems,  and anyone with a concern for their own health, that of loved ones, and that of society.

 For further reading:  obesity statistics at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health.

For links to all sources, please go here.http:marjorie-picard.suite101.com/the-growing-cost-of-obesity-some-hefty-statistics-a332209
 
To see a video on this topic, please go to http://www.newsy.com/videos/almost-half-of-americans-could-be-obese-by-2030/