• Am J Prev Med · Apr 2015

    Healthcare utilization associated with obesity and physical disabilities.

    • Mark D Peterson and Elham Mahmoudi.
    • Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
    • Am J Prev Med. 2015 Apr 1; 48 (4): 426435426-35.

    IntroductionObesity incurs a substantial economic burden to healthcare systems. Little is known about the combined medical costs attributable to obesity among individuals with physical disabilities (PDs).PurposeTo estimate the annual healthcare utilization and expenditure associated with overweight and obesity among adults with and without PDs.MethodsWeighted multivariate generalized linear models were used to estimate healthcare costs and utilization among adults with and without PDs, across standard BMI categories, using the 2002-2011 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. The analyses, performed in 2013-2014, included a population representative sample of 215,107 individuals, aged ≥18 years. Overall, 36,349 adults reported moderate or significant PDs. The primary outcomes were total healthcare costs, physician office visits, and hospitalization.ResultsAfter adjusting for sociodemographic variables, self-rated mental and physical health, physical activity, and year, adults with PDs incurred more than 1.96 times the adjusted total healthcare costs ($4,298, 95% CI=$3,980, $4,617) than adults without PDs. Obese individuals spent significantly more than those at normal weight ($726, p<0.001). Obese individuals with PDs spent 1.13 times more than normal-weight individuals with PDs ($1,107, p<0.001) and >2.2 times more than normal-weight individuals without PDs ($5,197, p<0.001). PDs plus obesity represents $23.9 billion/year, or roughly 50% of the total costs attributable to obesity in the U.S.ConclusionsAcross BMI categories, there was significantly greater healthcare utilization and cost among adults with PDs, independent of age, race, education, and SES. Health policies need to identify behavioral interventions that address both healthy weight achievement/maintenance and functional independence among all adults.Published by Elsevier Inc.

      Pubmed     Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…