Economic impact of obesity on an individual: An ever growing model

Background: A conservative total from 2010 gave obesity-attributed health expenditure as 2.6 billion dollars; an extra 190 million dollars is spent in insurance due to obesity. There is a deficit, however, in the data collected for individual and societal expenditure beyond this total. Purpose: To outline data needed to better understand the cost of obesity. Methods: An extensive meta-analysis of literature related to the cost of obesity was conducted to assess data collection and evaluation methods for government, societal and individual spending related to obesity. Results: Meta-analysis of current cost assessment methods showed a lack of data related to fast food spending, diet industry spending, and other food and health related costs. This lacking data yields conservative estimates on the total expenditure on obesity. Conclusions: Very little data is available in peer reviewed research regarding individual expenditure on obesity, and several key pieces of data would assist in determining government expenditure. This presentation discusses the need for greater data collection on food expenditures, dietary habits in the obese, and the societal impact of obesity at a county, state, and national level. Investigators need more data regarding eating habits, food expenditures, and infrastructure impacts of obesity, not only to combat the growing epidemic, but to better estimate the impact of the increasing obesity trend on our future spending.