Cost and cost-effectiveness of obesity treatment: a mini review

Abstract

In the past two decades, the prevalence of obesity has increased significantly and became one of the important issues of public health and medical care in the world [1-3]. About 27.5% of adults and 47.1% of children are overweight or obese in 2013 worldwide [2]. Obesity and its related co-morbidities, such as type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), hypertension, dyslipidemia, coronary heart disease, degenerative arthritis, respiratory and sleep disorders, and certain cancers, are common chronic diseases in both developed and developing countries [4]. For example, the risk for obese subjects to develop T2DM and hypertension is 27.6 times and 3.9 times greater than normal weight subjects, respectively [4]. Furthermore, as the medical expenses of these diseases increase, the costs of obesity and its related co-morbidities make up 2-20% of total medical expenditure and become a major economic burden worldwide.