Association of body mass index with health care expenditures in the United States by age and sex.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Estimates of health care costs associated with excess weight are needed to inform the development of cost-effective obesity prevention efforts. However, commonly used cost estimates are not sensitive to changes in weight across the entire body mass index (BMI) distribution as they are often based on discrete BMI categories.

Methods

We estimated continuous BMI-related health care expenditures using data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) 2011-2016 for 175,726 respondents. We adjusted BMI for self-report bias using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2011-2016, and controlled for potential confounding between BMI and medical expenditures using a two-part model. Costs are reported in $US 2019.

Results

We found

SUBMITTER: Ward ZJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7990296 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature