Ten Modifiable Health Risk Factors and Employees' Medical Costs-An Update.

PURPOSE

To estimate the relationship between employees' health risks and health-care costs to inform health promotion program design.

DESIGN

An observational study of person-level health-care claims and health risk assessment (HRA) data that used regression models to estimate the relationship between 10 modifiable risk factors and subsequent year 1 health-care costs.

SETTING

United States.

PARTICIPANTS

The sample included active, full-time, adult employees continuously enrolled in employer-sponsored health insurance plans contributing to IBM MarketScan Research Databases who completed an HRA. Study criteria were met by 135 219 employees from 11 employers.

MEASURES

Ten modifiable risk factors and individual sociodemographic and health characteristics were included in the models as independent variables. Five settings of health-care costs were outcomes in addition to total expenditures.

ANALYSIS

After building the analytic file, we estimated generalized linear models and conducted postestimation bootstrapping.

RESULTS

Health-care costs were significantly higher for employees at higher risk for blood glucose, obesity, stress, depression, and physical inactivity (all at < .0001) than for those at lower risk. Similar cost differentials were found when specific health-care services were examined.

CONCLUSION

Employers may achieve cost savings in the short run by implementing comprehensive health promotion programs that focus on decreasing multiple health risks.