The Economic Burden of Obesity in Children and Adolescents in Austria.

Abstract

Introduction: In Europe, one in three school-aged children live with overweight or obesity and are at high risk of continuing to be affected by it throughout their lives.

Methods: We used population projections and the share of young adults assumed to have remained obese since childhood or adolescence to project the lifetime costs of birth cohorts from 2000 to 2019. We estimated lifetime costs per individual using population-attributable fractions considering a discount rate of 3%, obesity-associated mortality, an obesity-associated "income penalty", and future cost increases in the health care system.

Results: For Austria, we estimated that around 95,000 of all children and adolescents in 2019 will maintain obesity as adults, which leads to a present value of € 9.2 billion or an annuity of approximately €285 million (0.07% of GDP in 2019). Approximately 15% of costs arise from direct costs and 85% from indirect costs.

Conclusion: We highlighted the long-term economic burden of early onset obesity in Austria and concluded that public health programs addressing children and adolescents with obesity could relieve high costs not only for individuals but also for society.