The trend of increasing obesity rates could cost the country dearly in the future, according to a study from Emory University. As the country's fastest-growing public health threat, obesity requires a high-level, coordinated response directed by the White House, the lead author said.
Obesity rose from 12 percent of the population in 1989 to 27 percent in 2008, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But the real rate is probably 9.5 points higher, because people tend to underreport weight in telephone surveys, according to the study.
Projecting rates out to 2018 finds that 47.5 percent of the country would be obese, the highest estimate included in the study. That could cost as much as $344 billion, more than 21 percent of all health care spending annually, the study notes.
Being obese makes you three times more likely to be diabetic, said lead author Ken Thorpe, a professor of health policy at Emory University and the director of the Center for Entitlement Reform.
"Nobody had really drawn the link between the growth in obesity and how much of the growth in health care spending it was accounting for," he said.
It's a problem that cuts across several areas of government, from health agencies to food subsidies, Thorpe noted. Therefore it needs a wide-ranging approach to combat it, he said.
"It's one of those things at the administration level, we really need to put together a comprehensive strategy and approach for dealing with it," Thorpe said. "Something run out of the White House that convenes leaders from several Cabinets that really directs an administration-wide approach for dealing with the issue." There are good approaches to help people lose weight and improve health, such as the Diabetes Prevention Program, he said. That study found that in overweight, pre-diabetic adults, reducing weight by 5 percent to 7 percent decreased the amount of those who went on to develop diabetes by 58 percent.
"We just need to make (those programs) more widely available, better known to people that want to make a change," Thorpe said.
Holding the rate of obesity at its current level would save $198 billion a year in 2018, the study estimated.
RISK OF DISEASE CAN BE CALCULATED
Obesity increases the risk for numerous other diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer. "Obese" and "overweight" are defined terms and are determined using Body Mass Index, which is considered a more accurate measure than weight alone.
The measure is not foolproof: Muscular people often will have higher BMIs.
BMI is determined by dividing weight in pounds by height in inches squared, then multiplied by 703, or (weight)/(height in inches) ² x 703. An online BMI calculator is available at www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/bmicalc.htm
Another measure to look at when calculating disease risk is weight circumference. Men with a waist size of 40 inches or more, or women with a waist size of 35 or more are considered at increased disease risk. Increased waist size can be an indicator of abdominal fat, which also increases risk of disease.
Using the two together can help determine increased risk of disease.
-- Tom Corwin, staff writer
Risk of disease
| BMI | Men, waist 40 inches or less Women, waist less than 35 inches |
Men, waist more than 40 inches Women, waist more than 35 inches |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Normal weight | 18.5-24.9 | --- | ---- |
| Overweight | 25-29.9 | Increased | High |
| Obese | 30-34.9 | High | Very high |
| Obese | 35-39.9 | Very high | Very high |
| Extremely obese | 40 and up | Extremely high | Extremely high |
Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute
Comments
So the government agrees that fat people drive up insurance rates for everyone. The White House response is to force a health care bill down our throats (or up something) that will insure everyone at the same cost and not deny coverage to anyone through a government-run program. Yeah, that'll fix the problem!
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