Healthy People Have Higher Health Costs Than Smokers, the Obese
February 5, 2008
Because they live longer, healthy people can rack up more overall health-care expenses than obese people or smokers, according to a Dutch study published online Monday in the journal Public Library of Science Medicine.
Using a computer model, the researchers concluded that thin and healthy people (who lived an average of 84 years) cost the health system about $417,000 from age 20 until they died. The cost for obese people (who lived an average of 80 years) was $371,000, and the cost for smokers (average lifespan of 77 years) was about $326,000, the Associated Press reported.
Between ages 20 to 56, obese people had the highest health-care costs. Smokers and obese people tended to have more heart disease than healthy people. Obese people had the most diabetes and healthy people had the most strokes. Except for lung cancer, the incidence of cancer was the same for all three groups, said the study, funded by the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports.
The study didn't take into account other potential effects of smoking and obesity, such as social or economic costs, the AP reported.
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