Nagi Mouaddh Abdulmalik, Almalki Ziyad Saeed, Thavorncharoensap Montarat, Sangroongruangsri Sermsiri, Turongkaravee Saowalak, Chaikledkaew Usa, Alqahtani Abdulhadi M, AlSharif Lamis S, Alsubaihi Ibrahim A, Alzarea Abdulaziz I, Alsultan Mohammed M
Doctor of Philosophy Program in Social, Economic, and Administrative Pharmacy, Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand.
Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Aljanad University for Science and Technology, Taiz, Yemen.
Clinicoecon Outcomes Res. 2025 Mar 21;17:233-246. doi: 10.2147/CEOR.S504462. eCollection 2025.
The rising prevalence of obesity in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) poses a significant public health challenge. Estimates of the economic cost of obesity are crucial for prioritizing healthcare interventions, guiding policy choices, and justifying budget allocations aimed at reducing obesity prevalence. This study aimed to estimate the cost of obesity in the KSA in 2022.
A prevalence-based cost-of-illness approach was used to determine the cost of obesity. This analysis encompasses 29 diseases, namely obesity and twenty-eight diseases attributable to obesity. Both direct and indirect costs were considered. The annual cost of treatment for each obesity-attributable disease was obtained from the hospital records of one tertiary hospital in the KSA. Data on direct non-medical costs were obtained from the patient survey. The human capital approach was used to estimate the indirect costs of morbidity and mortality.
The total economic burden of obesity (2022 values) was estimated at US$116.85 billion from a societal perspective and US$109.67 billion from a healthcare system perspective. From a societal perspective, the total direct medical cost accounted for the largest portion of the total cost (94%). In terms of direct medical costs, the cost of treating diseases attributable to obesity was substantially greater than the cost of treating obesity itself. According to the sensitivity analysis, the total cost ranged from 3.4% of the country's Gross domestic product (GDP) when the unit cost of treatment was reduced by 74% to 9.5% of the country's GDP when the prevalence of obesity and its comorbidities was reduced by 5%.
Obesity imposes a substantial economic burden on the healthcare system and society in the KSA. Interventions aimed at promoting healthier lifestyles to reduce the prevalence and incidence of obesity and its comorbidities are highly warranted to alleviate the impact of obesity in the country.
沙特阿拉伯王国肥胖率的不断上升对公共卫生构成了重大挑战。估计肥胖的经济成本对于确定医疗保健干预措施的优先级、指导政策选择以及为旨在降低肥胖率的预算分配提供依据至关重要。本研究旨在估算2022年沙特阿拉伯王国肥胖的成本。
采用基于患病率的疾病成本法来确定肥胖的成本。该分析涵盖29种疾病，即肥胖症以及28种由肥胖引起的疾病。同时考虑了直接成本和间接成本。每种肥胖相关疾病的年度治疗成本来自沙特阿拉伯一家三级医院的医院记录。直接非医疗成本的数据来自患者调查。采用人力资本法估算发病和死亡的间接成本。
从社会角度估计，肥胖的总经济负担（2022年数值）为1168.5亿美元，从医疗系统角度为1096.7亿美元。从社会角度来看，直接医疗总成本占总成本的最大部分（94%）。在直接医疗成本方面，治疗肥胖相关疾病的成本远高于治疗肥胖本身的成本。根据敏感性分析，当治疗单位成本降低74%时，总成本占该国国内生产总值（GDP）的3.4%；当肥胖及其合并症的患病率降低5%时，总成本占该国GDP的9.5%。
肥胖给沙特阿拉伯的医疗系统和社会带来了巨大的经济负担。非常有必要采取旨在促进更健康生活方式的干预措施，以降低肥胖及其合并症的患病率和发病率，从而减轻肥胖对该国的影响。
