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July 27, 2009 at 08:00 PM
Obesity now accounts for 9.1% of U.S. medical spending, up from 6.5% in 1998.
Researchers have presented that estimate in a study published today by Health Affairs, an academic journal that covers health care finance and health care delivery.
The percentage of U.S. residents who are obese has jumped to 25%, from about 18%, and that increase in the obesity rate accounts for about 89% of the increase in obesity-related spending, according to a team led by Eric Finkelstein of the Research Triangle Institute, Research Triangle Park, N.C.
Most of the money is going to pay for prescriptions related to conditions such as diabetes, and not to bariatric surgery or other treatments for obesity itself, the researchers report.
