Abstract
Overweight and obesity are associated with several chronic diseases. Economic costs attributable
to overweight and obesity are substantial. In Thailand, the prevalence of overweight and obesity is increasing
rapidly. It was also found that overweight and obesity were the 6th leading risk factor attributable
to Disability-Adjusted Life Year (DALY) loss in Thailand in 2004. However, there had never before
been a study which examined health-care costs due to overweight and obesity in Thailand.
This study is aimed at estimating the health-care costs attributable to overweight and obesity in
Thailand in the year 2009, employing the overweight and obesity-attributable fractions (OAFs), which are
generally defined as the proportion of a disease in a population that is attributable to overweight and
obesity. OAFs were calculated for each disease associated with overweight and obesity. OAFs can be
calculated from the prevalence of overweight and obesity and relative risk of each disease. The number of
patients in each disease category attributable to overweight and obesity was then calculated as the product
of OAFs and the total number of patients with that disease in 2009. The health-care costs of overweight
and obesity were further estimated by multiplying the number of patients in each disease category
attributable to overweight and obesity by the unit cost of treatment.
Health-care costs attributable to overweight and obesity in this study were estimated at 5,580.8 million
baht (i.e. out-patient department = 847.4 million baht and in-patient department = 4,733.4 million
baht). The top three leading causes of health-care costs were diabetes mellitus (3,386.6 million baht),
ischemic heart disease (1,070.5 million baht) and colon and rectal cancer (377.2 million baht), respectively.
The findings clearly confirmed that the economic impacts of overweight and obesity on health-care
costs in Thailand were substantial. More effective policies/interventions aimed at reducing the prevalence
of obesity should be implemented.
