Is overweight and class I obesity associated with increased health claims costs

Details

• Personal Author:
  Dement, John M. ; Eisenstein EL ; Østbye T ; Peterson B ; Stroo M
• Description:
  Objectives: Evaluate the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and health claims costs over the last decade, assess the strength and nature of the relationship between BMI and costs, and identify comorbidities that may drive any increased costs. Design and Methods: Using 2001-2011 claims data for employees participating in annual health appraisals, annual paid claims costs were calculated. One-part negative binomial models were fit to evaluate the relationship between BMI and costs, controlling for age, gender, race/ethnicity, and calendar year period. Results: The relationship between increasing BMI and increasing health claims costs is gradual and starts already at a BMI of 19. The nature of the relationship did not change notably over time. The most important obesity-related comorbidities, expressed as percent increase in cost per BMI unit, was cardiovascular disease (males 10.53, 95% CI [6.46, 14.77], females 4.27, 95% CI [1.25, 7.38), while cardiovascular agents (7.23, 95% CI [6.08, 8.39]) were the most important driver of pharmacy costs. Conclusion: In contrast to recent evidence relating to effects on mortality, we observed a gradual increase in health claims costs starting at the low end of the recommended BMI range. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Age Factors Body Weight Cardiovascular Diseases Cardiovascular System Men Occupational Health Race Factors Safety Sex Characteristics Women
• Keywords:
  Age-factors Body-weight Cardiovascular-system-disease Health-care Humans Racial-factors Sex-factors Sociological-factors Statistical-analysis Weight-factors Weight-measurement

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• ISSN:
  1930-7381
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  North Carolina ; OSHA Region 4
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  22
• Issue:
  4
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20043512
• Citation:
  Obesity 2014 Apr; 22(4):1179-1186
• Contact Point Address:
  Truls Østbye, Department of Community and Family Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA
• Email:
  truls.ostbye@duke.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2014
• Performing Organization:
  Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20100601
• Source Full Name:
  Obesity
• End Date:
  20150531
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:1431c5f3c7bd96320daf81be9bc3d1210bfa438f948c8ffc844364d82da5826e8aea81b3d47ca24f603308b6ce7c7b8614e04d44280494c2549b6ac6c2de5cc8
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/195399/cdc_195399_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 334.89 KB ]