The economic impact of obesity in the United States

Figures & data

Table 1 The key costs identified from research on the economic impact of obesity

Cost category	Sub-categories	Key results, and range of estimates	Relative costs	Total costs	Total nondollar amounts
Direct medical spending		Relative medical costs for overweight (vs normal weight)	10%–20% higher^Citation5,Citation13
		Relative medical costs for obese (vs Normal weight)	36%–100% higher^Citation5,Citation13,Citation16,Citation17
		Annual direct costs of childhood obesity		14.3 billion^Citation19,Citation20
		US-wide annual cost of “excess” medical spending attributable to overweight/obesity		$86–$147 billion (total)^Citation16 $640 million (women 40–65 only)^Citation9
Productivity costs	Absenteeism	Excess days of work lost due to obesity			1.02–4.72 days^Citation15,Citation27,Citation30,^67
		Relative risk ratio of having ‘high-absenteeism’	1.24–1.53 times higher^Citation28,Citation30
		National costs of annual absenteeism from obesity		$3.38–$6.38 billion or $79–$132 per obese person;^Citation29,Citation30 $57,000 per employee^Citation28 (1998 USD) $8 billion (2002 USD)^Citation31
	Presenteeism	National annual costs of presenteeism from obesity
		Relative productivity loss due to obesity	1.5% higher^Citation30
	Disability	Relative risk ratio of receiving disability income support	5.64–6.92 percentage points higher^Citation32
	Premature mortality	Years of life lost due to obesity			1–13 years per obese person^Citation33
		QALYs lost due to obesity			2.93 million QALYs total in US in 2004^Citation34
	Total	National annual indirect costs of obesity		$5 (1994 USD) –$66 billion^Citation31,Citation36
Transportation costs	Fuel costs	Annual excess jet fuel use attributable to obesity		$742 million (2010 USD)	350 million gal^Citation37
		Annual excess fuel use by noncommercial passenger highway vehicles attributable to obesity		$2.53–2.7 billion (2010 USD)	938 million–1 billion gal^Citation38,Citation40
		Additional fuel required in noncommerical passenger highway sector PER LB of avg passenger weight increase		$105 million per LB (2010 USD)	39 million gal^Citation40
	Environmental costs	OECD-wide CO2 emissions from transportation PER 5KG average weight per person			10 million T^Citation42
Human capital accumulation costs		Highest grade completed	0.1–0.3 fewer grades completed^Citation43,Citation44
		Days absent from school	1.2–2.1 more days absent from school^Citation45

Thompson D Edelsberg J Colditz GA Bird AP Oster G Lifetime health and economic consequences of obesity Arch Intern Med 1999 159 18 2177 2183 10527295

 PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Thompson D Brown JB Nichols GA Elmer PJ Oster G Body mass index and future healthcare costs: a retrospective cohort study Obes Res 2001 9 3 210 218 11323447

 PubMedGoogle Scholar

Finkelstein EA Trogdon JG Cohen JW Dietz W Annual medical spending attributable to obesity: payer- and service-specific estimates Health Aff (Millwood) 2009 28 5 w822 w831 19635784

 PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Thorpe KE Florence CS Howard DH Joski P The impact of obesity on rising medical spending Health Aff (Millwood) 2004 Suppl Web Exclusives W4 w480

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Cawley J The economics of childhood obesity Health Aff (Millwood) 2010 29 3 364 371 20194974

 PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Trasande L Chatterjee S The impact of obesity on health service utilization and costs in childhood Obesity (Silver Spring) 2009 17 9 1749 1754 19300433

 PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Gorsky R Pamuk E Williamson D Shaffer P Koplan J The 25-year health care costs of women who remain overweight after 40 years of age Am J Prev Med 1996 12 388 394 8909650

 PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Pronk NP Goodman MJ O’Connor PJ Martinson BC Relationship between modifiable health risks and short-term charges JAMA 1999 282 23 2235 2239 10605975

 PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Tsai SP Ahmed FS Wendt JK Bhojani F Donnelly RP The impact of obesity on illness absence and productivity in an industrial population of petrochemical workers Ann Epidemiol 2008 18 1 8 14 17890102

 PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Trogdon JG Finkelstein EA Hylands T Dellea PS Kamal-Bahl Indirect costs of obesity: a review of the current literature Obes Rev 2008 9 5 489 500 18331420

 PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Serxner SA Gold DB Bultman KK The impact of behavioral health risks on worker absenteeism J Occup Environ Med 2001 43 4 347 354 11322095

 PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Durden ED Huse D Ben-Joseph R Chu BC Economic costs of obesity to self-insured employers J Occup Environ Med 2008 50 9 991 997 18784546

 PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Ricci JA Chee E Lost productive time associated with excess weight in the US workforce J Occup Environ Med 2005 47 12 1227 1234 16340703

 PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Burkhauser RV Cawley J Obesity, disability, and movement onto the disability insurance rolls 2004 10 Available from: http://www.mrrc.isr.umich.edu/publications/Papers/pdf/wp089.pdf Accessed May 26, 2010

 Google Scholar

Fontaine KR Redden DT Wang C Years of life lost due to obesity JAMA 2010 289 2 187 193 12517229

 PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Groessel EJ Kaplan RM Barrett-Connor E Ganiats TG Body mass index and quality of well-being in a community of older adults Am J Prev Med 2004 26 2 126 129 14751323

 PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Thompson D Edeslberg J Kinsey KL Oster G Estimated economic costs of obesity to US business Am J Health Promot 1998 13 2 120 27 10346659

 PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Dannenberg A Burton D Jackson R Economic and environmental costs of obesity: the impact on airlines Am J Prevent Med 2004 27 3 264

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Jacobson SH King DM Measuring the potential for automobile fuel savings in the US: the impact of obesity Transport Res D-TR E 2009 14 1 6 13

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Jacobson SH McLay LA The economic impact of obesity on automobile fuel consumption Eng Econ 2006 51 307 323

 Google Scholar

Michaelowa A Dransfield B 2006. Greenhouse gas benefits of fighting obesity Ecolog Econ 2008 66 2–3 298 308

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Gortmaker SL Must A Perrin JM Sobol AM Dietz W Social and economic consequences of overweight in adolescence and young adult-hood N Eng J Med 1993 329 14 1008 1012

 PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Kaestner R Grossman M Yarnoff B Effects of weight on adolescent educational attainment 2009 5 Available from: http://www.nber.org/papers/w14994.pdf Accessed May 26, 2010

 Google Scholar

Geier AB Foster GD Womble LG The relationship between relative weight and school attendance among elementary schoolchildren Obesity (Silver Spring) 2007 15 8 2157 2161 17712135

 PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar