Cost of obesity in France

Objective > To estimate the costs associated with obesity in France. Methods > we used data from the 2002 survey on health and social protection as well as health core consumption data from the EPAS sample of the national health insurance funds. After excluding those younger than 18 years, pregnant women and people diagnosed with cancer we classified subjects as underweight, normal weight, or obese and then studied two subpopulations: (P1) obese patients (body moss index (BMI) >= 30 kg/m(2)) and (P2) patients who were obese or overweight (BMI >= 27 kg/m(2)) and hod additional cardiovascular risk factors: hypertension, dyslipidemia, type, 2 diabetes myocardial infarction (present or history), transient ischemic attack, intermittent claudication or sleep apnea. The Heckman approach was used to adjust for several factors. Results > The study included 4651 individuals, with a mean age was 47 years. The obesity prevalence rate was estimated at 10.7% for P1; the P2 prevalence was 16.0%. Average healthcare costs for the entire study group were 1534 Euro, 1105 Euro for ambulatory core (72%) and 429 Euro (28%) for inpatient core. Costs for obese subjects (P1 and P2) overaged 2500 Euro, twice the costs for normal-weight people (1263 Euro). After taking into account age, sex, socioeconomic status, alcohol consumption and smoking, the 100% reimbursement rote for chronic diseases (all else being equol), the extra cost of obesity compared with normal weight, was estimated between 506 Eirp (P1) and 648Euro (P2). Conclusion > The annuol total cost of obesity was estimated to range from 2.1 to 6.2 billion euros in 2002 and account for 1.5 to 4.6% of total health expenditures in France.