ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the substantial additional direct and indirect medical costs incurred by individuals who have accumulated an excess of body fat. The burden is seen to increase exponentially from those who are overweight to those with morbid obesity. Given the current prevalence of the various grades of obesity, the added expense in most countries is around 2 to 5 per cent of total medical expenditures. But in the USA (where obesity is more common than elsewhere), 5 to 9 per cent of national medical costs are associated with obesity. The validity of current estimates is nevertheless vulnerable to a substantial interaction and overlap between the costs associated with obesity and those attributable to inadequate physical inactivity. The respective magnitude of the two effects needs to be clarified by careful multivariate analyses, not least because it should influence the allocation of resources for prevention and treatment.
