Economic costs of obesity: a systematic review
Authors' conclusion
Although there was a variety of methodologies across studies, consistent evidence indicated that the economic burden of obesity was substantial. Obesity prevention and control should be a public health priority, especially among countries with high prevalence of obesity.
Study context
- Population
- Original cost-of-illness (COI) studies estimating the economic cost of obesity and/or overweight in at least one country, published in English (PubMed and Scopus, September 1, 2016, to July 22, 2022)19 studies
- Outcome
- Economic impact of obesity and methods used in COI studies
Methodological detailscost-of-illness studies, costs converted to 2022 purchasing power parity (PPP) values
- Cost-of-illness studies
- Costs converted to 2022 PPP values
Pooled result
As reported in the abstract
Economic burden of obesity · 2022
- Economic burden of obesity, Brazil (lowest)
- PPP 15 million
- Economic burden of obesity, USA (highest)
- PPP 126 billion
- Direct medical costs, share of health system expenditure
- 0.7% to 17.8%
- Total costs of obesity, share of gross domestic product (GDP)
- 0.05% to 2.42%
- Studies in which indirect costs were the largest portion, of 7 estimating both direct and indirect costs
- 5
Further pooled results
Study setting
- Conducted in high-income countries
- 53%
- Conducted in middle-income countries
- 47%
- Methodology and number of co-morbidities included varied across studies
Original publication
Economic costs of obesity: a systematic review. Int J Obes (Lond). Published 26 October 2023. doi:10.
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