Direct Monetary Cost of Obesity in Patients: A Study from a Health Economics Perspective

Abstract

AbstractObjective:It is a fact that obesity, which is a global public health problem, is not just a medical condition, but should be evaluated together with its economic and social consequences. The aim of our study is to calculate the direct monetary cost caused by obesity based on the individual and to determine the factors affecting the cost.Methods:The observational, cross-sectional study was conducted who applied to the obesity polyclinics of a tertiary hospital in Istanbul. Totally 276 subjects included in 6 months and their data collected with the "case report form" developed by the researchers. To analyze the obtained data Independent sample T-test were used with normal distribution; If not provided, Mann Whitney U test and Kruskal Wallis tests were used; and chi-square test with categorical data. In all analyses, 95% confidence intervals and p<0.05 values were considered statistically significant.Results:Obesity was found to be more common in those who unemployed, had a large family type, did not have exercise habits, had any chronic disease, had an individual with obesity in their family, and had overweight or obesity in childhood. The mean monthly cost attributable to obesity for all participants was 1,042.50 ± 1,755.30₺, 2,433.48 ± 2,472.94₺ for those who only used drugs, and 3,556.90 ± 2,371.64₺ for those who only used liraglutid. When the participants are grouped according to the expenditure/income ratio, 30.1% of them spend 5% or more of their income due to obesity; and the ratio was 20.7% for %10 threshold. The fact that there are a large number of participants in terms of financial catastrophe risk compared to both 5% and 10% reveals that obesity has serious costs to individuals.Conclusion:Obesity has social and economic consequences. The main determining factor in the economic burden of obesity on individuals is treatments that are not covered by insurance reimbursement.