The economic burden of overweight and obesity in Saudi Arabia

Context:
The prevalence of overweight and obesity in Saudi Arabia has been rising.
Although the health burden of excess weight is well established, little is
known about the economic burden.

Aims:
To assess the economic burden—both direct medical costs and the value of
absenteeism and presenteeism—resulting from overweight and obesity in Saudi
Arabia.

Settings and
Design: The cost of overweight and obesity in Saudi
Arabia was estimated from a societal perspective using an epidemiologic
approach.

Methods and
Materials: Data were obtained from previously published
studies and secondary databases.

Statistical
analysis used: Overweight/obesity-attributable costs were
calculated for six major noncommunicable diseases; sensitivity analyses were
conducted for key model parameters.

Results: The impact of overweight and obesity for these
diseases is found to directly cost a total of $3.8 billion, equal to 4.3
percent of total health expenditures in Saudi Arabia in 2019. Estimated overweight
and obesity–attributable absenteeism and presenteeism costs a total of $15.5
billion, equal to 0.9 percent of GDP in 2019.

Conclusions: Even
when limited to six diseases and a subset of total indirect costs, results indicate
that overweight and obesity are a significant economic burden in Saudi Arabia. Future
studies should identify strategies to reduce the health and economic burden
resulting from excess weight in Saudi Arabia.