Pitayatienanan Paiboon, Butchon Rukmanee, Yothasamut Jomkwan, Aekplakorn Wichai, Teerawattananon Yot, Suksomboon Naeti, Thavorncharoensap Montarat
Social and Administrative Pharmacy Division, Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand.
BMC Health Serv Res. 2014 Apr 2;14:146. doi: 10.1186/1472-6963-14-146.
Over the last decade, the prevalence of obesity (BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2) in Thailand has been rising rapidly and consistently. Estimating the cost of obesity to society is an essential step in setting priorities for research and resource use and helping improve public awareness of the negative economic impacts of obesity. This prevalence-based, cost-of-illness study aims to estimate the economic costs of obesity in Thailand.
The estimated costs in this study included health care cost, cost of productivity loss due to premature mortality, and cost of productivity loss due to hospital-related absenteeism. The Obesity-Attributable Fraction (OAF) was used to estimate the extent to which the co-morbidities were attributable to obesity. The health care cost of obesity was further estimated by multiplying the number of patients in each disease category attributable to obesity by the unit cost of treatment. The cost of productivity loss was calculated using the human capital approach.
The health care cost attributable to obesity was estimated at 5,584 million baht or 1.5% of national health expenditure. The cost of productivity loss attributable to obesity was estimated at 6,558 million baht - accounting for 54% of the total cost of obesity. The cost of hospital-related absenteeism was estimated at 694 million baht, while the cost of premature mortality was estimated at 5,864 million baht. The total cost of obesity was then estimated at 12,142 million baht (725.3 million US$PPP, 16.74 baht =1 US$PPP accounting for 0.13% of Thailand's Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Obesity imposes a substantial economic burden on Thai society especially in term of health care costs. Large-scale comprehensive interventions focused on improving public awareness of the cost of and problems associated with obesity and promoting a healthy lifestyle should be regarded as a public health priority.
在过去十年中，泰国肥胖症（体重指数≥25千克/平方米）的患病率一直在迅速且持续上升。估算肥胖症对社会造成的成本是确定研究和资源使用优先级以及帮助提高公众对肥胖症负面经济影响认识的重要一步。这项基于患病率的疾病成本研究旨在估算泰国肥胖症的经济成本。
本研究估算的成本包括医疗保健成本、因过早死亡导致的生产力损失成本以及因与医院相关的缺勤导致的生产力损失成本。肥胖归因分数（OAF）用于估算合并症可归因于肥胖症的程度。肥胖症的医疗保健成本通过将肥胖症导致的各疾病类别患者数量乘以单位治疗成本来进一步估算。生产力损失成本使用人力资本法计算。
归因于肥胖症的医疗保健成本估计为55.84亿泰铢，占国家卫生支出的1.5%。归因于肥胖症的生产力损失成本估计为65.58亿泰铢，占肥胖症总成本的54%。与医院相关的缺勤成本估计为6.94亿泰铢，而过早死亡成本估计为58.64亿泰铢。肥胖症的总成本随后估计为121.42亿泰铢（按购买力平价计算为7.253亿美元，1美元购买力平价=16.74泰铢），占泰国国内生产总值（GDP）的0.13%。
肥胖症给泰国社会带来了巨大的经济负担，尤其是在医疗保健成本方面。应将侧重于提高公众对肥胖症成本和相关问题的认识以及促进健康生活方式的大规模综合干预措施视为公共卫生优先事项。
