Cost–effectiveness of whole-of-community obesity prevention programs: an overview of the evidence

Abstract

Whole-of-community obesity prevention programs that impact on multiple players and promote community capacity show promise as an important strategy in the fight against global obesity. This paper reviews the economic evaluation literature of multifaceted, community based obesity prevention programs. There are few cost effectiveness studies. Whilst results to date are encouraging, there is considerable uncertainty surrounding the long term results given the lack of evidence regarding sustainability of program effect and a consequent reliance on economic modeling to fill the gaps. More empirical studies of longer duration are needed to demonstrate the longer term effectiveness and cost effectiveness of these programs, and to facilitate identification of the elements necessary for their sustainability.

Keywords::

• Cost–effectiveness
• economic evaluation
• obesity prevention
• whole-of-community programs

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Key issues

• The emerging evidence around whole-of-community obesity prevention programs suggests that they have an important role to play in counteracting and stabilizing growth in obesity prevalence in child populations.

• To date there are very few economic evaluation studies of these programs, and differences in methods of these studies make comparison difficult.

• While definitive conclusions about the state of evidence cannot be made at present, results are promising with most studies included in this review reporting cost-effective results.

• A lack of longitudinal data means that there is a reliance on economic modeling to determine the longer-term Cost–effectiveness and therefore an element of uncertainty in relation to reported results.

• The sustainability of programs of this nature has not been empirically proven as yet and so future evaluations require a longer-term focus.