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13 Stats and Facts – Obesity: A Heavy Burden on Business

  1. One in three U.S. adults is obese.
  2. If the current trajectory continues, 50% of the population will be obese by 2030.
  3. More than 60% of the United States population is overweight or obese.
  4. $1,000 to $6,000 in added cost per year for each obese employee.
  5. Total cost of obesity to U.S. employers — including lost productivity — at $73 billion a year.
  6. Nearly 10 percent of U.S. corporate health care costs are due to obesity and its complications.
  7. The overall, tangible, annual costs of being obese are $4,879 for an obese woman and $2,646 for an obese man.
  8. The overall annual costs of being overweight are $524 and $432 for women and men, respectively.
  9. The health care costs for a morbidly obese person are $2,845 higher per year than the health care costs for a normal-weight person.
  10. Average annualized costs, including value of lost life, are $8,365 for obese women and $6,518 for obese men.
  11. Obese employees are more likely to be absent from work as a result of illness or injury than normal-weight employees.
  12. An overweight employee had a 26% increase in risk of a short-term disability event in comparison to a normal-weight employee. In comparison to a normal-weight employee, an obese employee had a 76% increase in risk of a short-term disability event.
  13. Nearly 1 billion additional gallons of fuel are consumed annually because of average-passenger weight increases since 1960.  Annually, it is estimated that for every additional pound of weight for all car passengers, an additional 39.2 million gallons of fuel are consumed.

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Nov 01, 2011 | 0 comments | View Post

Adult obesity rates up in 23 states

Mississippi has kept its U.S. heavyweight title for a fifth straight year, among both adults and children.

The percentage of adults classified as obese went up in 23 states, but Mississippi, with 32.5 percent, stayed atop the latest annual rankings by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Trust for America's Health. The same survey put the state's adult obesity rate at 31.7 percent in 2008. Thirty-one states now report rates over 25 percent. By comparison, no state topped 20 percent in 1991.

In addition, 44.4 percent of Mississippi children ages 10 to 17 are classified as overweight or obese.

Rounding out the top five states among adults were West Virginia, with 31.2 percent of its population considered obese; Alabama, 31.1 percent; Tennessee, 30.2 percent; and South Carolina 29.7 percent.

 

Jul 01, 2009 | 1 comment | View Post

Too fat to fight; Military scrambles to fill quota

Despite record layoffs and rising unemployment, many organizations are still scrambling to find qualified workers.

According to a post on ABCnews.com, one in five military-age Americans is too fat to join the armed services.  The military has turned away 48,000 overweight applicants since 2005 – a number greater than all the U.S. troops fighting in Afghanistan!

Mar 29, 2009 | 0 comments | View Post

America’s Weighty Problem Part 3: Productivity Costs

Health care costs related to obesity are rivaled by productivity costs in their impact. In the U.S. alone it is estimated that obesity is associated with 39 million lost work days; 239 million restricted-activity days; 90 million bed days; and 63 million physician visits per year.  Studies have shown that obese workers are absent approximately 1-3 extra days per person, per year, compared with their normal weight counterparts and also that substantial weight loss in obese subjects can result in reduced sick leave.


Productivity costs, defined as the combination of mortality and morbidity costs, are attributed not only to that which an employer pays in productivity losses caused by premature death or health impairments that severely restrict an employee’s ability to work, but also take into account ailments that can interfere even temporarily with an employee’s capacity for production. Sleep apnea, respiratory problems, poor female reproductive health, and depression, conditions that can cause such temporary interference, have been proven to occur at a much higher rate in overweight and obese individuals.

To read more about America’s Weighty Problem, visit

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Feb 09, 2009 | 1 comment | View Post

America’s Weighty Problem Part 2: Health Care Costs

Over the past 30 years, employers have seen productivity costs and medical expenses skyrocket alongside the rate of obesity. Today, 66% of the U.S. adult population is overweight, and of those, 31% are obese. As a result, two-thirds of the adult population (and two-thirds of your workforce) are at increased risk for many serious ailments including type 2 diabetes; heart disease; hypertension; osteoarthritis; stroke; gallbladder disease; and endometrial, breast, prostate and colon cancers.

Employers are estimated to spend at least $13B per year on health care costs for obese and overweight employees, who are responsible for an estimated 27% of annual trend in medical premiums paid by private employers. For each unit increase in BMI, direct health care costs increase by 2.3%, and the excess cost of obesity at a 1,000-person organization is about $285,000 per year.

To read more about America’s Weighty Problem, visit Free & Clear.

Feb 05, 2009 | 0 comments | View Post