Researchers at Duke Global Health Institute and Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School in Singapore studied the financial feature of childhood obesity and found that medical expenses from the disorder come at a heavy price.
A recent study revealed that childhood obesity comes with an estimated price tag of $19,000 per child compared to the lifetime medical costs of a normal weight child.
Researchers looked at expenses, including doctor visits and medications, and discovered that 10-year-old obese children accounted for roughly $14 billion in costs in the United States alone. According to the study, normal weight children who gained weight in adulthood had lifetime medical costs reduced to $12,900.
"Reducing childhood obesity is a public health priority that has substantial health and economic benefits," lead author Eric Andrew Finkelstein said, according to USA Today. "These estimates provide the financial consequences of inaction and the potential medical savings from obesity prevention efforts that successfully reduce or delay obesity onset."
The study, which was published in the journal Pediatrics, highlights the importance of reducing childhood obesity. America may continue to face obesity-related problems including but not limited to heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, several types of cancer, and osteoarthritis.
"For the same reasons we don't let kids drink or smoke and force them to go to school, we should also do our best to keep them at a healthy weight," Finkelstein said. "While the cost estimates are significant, the motivation to prevent childhood obesity should be there regardless of the financial implications."
According to the a 2014 report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the obesity rate for American children in the two to five-year-old demographic dropped from 14 percent in 2003-04 to just eight percent in 2011-12. This is a 43 percent decrease.
"We continue to see signs that, for some children in this country, the scales are tipping. This report comes on the heels of previous CDC data that found a significant decline in obesity prevalence among low-income children aged 2 to 4 years participating in federal nutrition programs," Tom Frieden, said in a statement. "We've also seen signs from communities around the country with obesity prevention programs including Anchorage, Alaska, Philadelphia, New York City and King County, Washington. This confirms that at least for kids, we can turn the tide and begin to reverse the obesity epidemic."
One in three adults and one in five children in the U.S. are obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Severe childhood obesity rates have more than doubled since 1999. The report also noted that there has been little change in the obesity rate across all youth age groups.
