The rising cost of overweight and obesity
NICE clinical guideline 43 estimates the
current cost of obesity plus overweight in England is £6.6 – 7.4
billion per year. (NICE: Obesity, clinical guideline 43, December
2006).
Foresight estimates that, without action,
obesity-related diseases will cost the NHS £6.5 billion per year by
2050 at current prices (Foresight, Tackling Obesities: Future
Choices - Project Report, Government Office for Science, October
2007).
Obese patients consult their GP at least 30%
more often than lean adults, and account for approx 30% greater
prescribing costs (Campbell I, Haslam D. Obesity, Churchill
Livingstone, 2005).
1.23 million prescription items were dispensed
in 2007 for the treatment of obesity, compared to 0.13 million
items in 1999 (NHS, 2009: Statistics on Obesity, England 2009).
The relative risk of type 2 diabetes in obese
women is 12.7 and of hypertension is 4.2 (NICE, ibid).